From NEJM: Health care reform and the Netherlands

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21675914

N Engl J Med. 2011 Jun 15. [Epub ahead of print]
Managed Competition for Medicare? Sobering Lessons from the Netherlands.
Okma KG, Marmor TR, Oberlander J.
Source
From New York University, New York (K.G.H.O.); Yale University, New Haven, CT (T.R.M.); and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (J.O.).
Abstract
Discussions about U.S. health care reform are often parochial, with scant attention paid to other countries' experiences. It is thus surprising that in the ongoing debate over Medicare, some U.S. commentators have turned to the Netherlands as a model of regulated competition among private insurance companies.(1) The Dutch experience is particularly relevant given the proposal by Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) to eliminate traditional Medicare and instead provide beneficiaries with vouchers to purchase private insurance. (The Republican majority in the House passed the Ryan plan as part of the 2012 budget resolution, but it was defeated in the Senate.) It is . . .