THAT SICK DUDE

Washington Post foreign correspondent/NPR commentator TR Reid had an opportunity to get a first-hand look at how other countries, such as the U.K. and Japan, handle health care when he and his family lived overseas. He used his experiences in his 2008 PBS Frontline documentary Sick Around the World, which explored how five other wealthy nations handle providing health care to their citizens. However, there was controversy surrounding its follow-up, Sick Around America, which aired in March. Reid asked to be removed from the show when PBS apparently decided that his conclusion — that profit-making was incompatible with providing basic health-care needs — didn’t blend smoothly with Yanni specials and Antiques Roadshow. Instead, the show — with Reid absent — became a platform to promote the idea of requiring people to buy private insurance, expressed by people like mouthpiece Karen Ignagni of insurance company trade group America’s Health Insurance Plans. Reid’s got a book coming out in August, The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper and Fairer Health Care. You can get a preview of what he’ll cover in the book (and maybe even ask him for details about his dust-up with PBS) at 7 p.m. Saturday, June 20, when he speaks at Trinity Cathedral (2230 Euclid Ave.) His appearance is sponsored by Universal Health Care Action Network of Ohio (UHCAN Ohio) as a fundraiser. Tickets are $10; there’s also a 5:30 reception with Reid for $50. Go to ohioconsumersforhealth.org for tickets and info. — Anastasia Pantsios