Spending less, living longer: What the U.S. can learn from Portugal's innovative health system

LISBON — Getting to the MRI machine at one of this city’s largest public hospitals means taking a trip through time. Plastic waiting room chairs in radiology sit amid centuries-old blue and white Azulejo tiles, while a nearby chapel glimmers with Renaissance statuary and paintings. Hospital de São José’s ambulance bays, exam rooms, and labs, after all, occupy a former college the Jesuits started building in 1579.

This recycling of a timeworn campus that somehow survived Lisbon’s devastating 1755 earthquake exemplifies Portugal’s health system: Instead of spending money on gleaming new hospitals and expensive drug therapies, the country focuses on old fashioned primary care and public health.

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