Background Universal Health Care System
One of the most long-standing health care systems was originated in Germany in 1889 by Otto von Bismarck’s social legislation. Its included bills were the Health Insurance Bill 1883, Old Age and Disability Insurance Bill of 1889, and Accident Insurance Bill of 1883. The National Insurance Act of 1911 in Britain covered most people employed. It also financed dependents if families had contributed for at least five years. This coverage lasted whether families worked or not. This Act was amended in 1948 with the National Health Service revised the act to secure only legal residents to benefit from this plan. Many universal health care systems originated after the 2nd world war. During this period,
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Even wealthy Americans encounter instances where they can’t get in touch with a doctor without seeing a nurse first.
Health care systems in Germany faced problems including a growing population, visitation of patients and tourists who needed assistance, and an increase in the costs of providing medical care to the entire population. Both Germany and the US systems have its setbacks. The US suffers from deficits in rich and poor disparity, over-testing patients, and preventable deaths of adults and infants.
German government established its system to distribute fairness to all by engulfing itself in the socioeconomic system. This idea differs from American policy which uses the government to develop systems of mass assistance (welfare, Medicare, etc) then state that the government shouldn’t control it. It has been demonstrated that his method is largely ineffective. The pricing and distribution of services is largely unfair with little to no reward for effective services.
In March of 2010, Congress enacted and the President signed sweeping health-reform legislation. The effort by President Obama and Congressional Democrats to expand health insurance coverage too many of the 46 million uninsured people living in the United States involves provisions aimed at increasing the number of people receiving health insurance both through the government as well as through private insurance. In particular, much of the
Germany’s healthcare system is split into two types of coverage which is public and private health insurance. Health insurance companies are not able to deny people coverage due to pre-existing illnesses or to discontinue their treatment because of high costs. The public health care insurance is provided by statute to individuals who are not eligible for private insurance which is people who are salary and make under $50,000 annually. As people age and become ill, they are able to opt out of their insurance and turn to the government’s option. As the economy continues to fluctuate, the population of Germany relies more heavily on the legislative insurance which consists of 85-90% of the population.
Health care has been an area of discussion for some time now. In the United States, the current health care system is a private system that allows individuals to choose their own method of care. Despite the freedom that comes with the independent nature of this type of health care system, the true disposition creates more problems than it solves. The privacy of the health care institutions has caused affordability and access to become serious issues with this system. Additionally, those with lower socioeconomic status fall short of the ability to access the same pool of resources as everyone else. Due to the issues with affordability, access, and the poor infrastructure of the health care system, a universal health
A powerful force for change can be created by embracing transparency. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, “transparency is a broad-scale initiative enabling consumers to compare quality and the price of health care services so they can make their own informative choices among doctors and hospitals. This initiative is laying the foundation for pooling and analyzing information about procedures, hospitals and physicians services. In order to create value driven health care, there are four steps to turn raw data into
The latest health care reform has done what few policies manage to do – sicken both republicans and progressive democrats. While we can all agree that a reform of the health care system is sorely needed, we must also acknowledge that “Obamacare” is not the cure-all we so desperately require. Rather, President Obama, like a medieval barber, prescribed a health care reform that treated the symptoms of our flawed system rather than the actual disease. The subsidization of health insurance providers has proven ineffective at providing affordable coverage for all. Certainly one is likely to hear the various incendiary talking points of both the proponents and opponents. Whether it’s the republican candidates blaspheming Obamacare as socialism, or the administration praising the success of health care for all, it is difficult to actually find constructive dialogue. We are purview to many sound bites, but few actual solutions. We have witnessed heated debates, but rarely do we witness intelligent discourse. If beneficial reform is to be crafted and implemented, we must first acknowledge the issues and inconsistencies of the current system and begin to explore alternate methods of providing health care to the American people.
LEADER’S EFFECTIVENESS USING UTILITARIANISM AS THE ETHICAL DECISION-MAKING APPROACH IN REGARD TO THE HEALTHCARE CHALLENGES SET FORTH BY THE PROTECTION AND AFFORDABLE CARE ACT OF 2010
The Affordable Care Act was into law March 2010. The law has planned to make wide-range of changes to healthcare in the United States. The Affordable Care Act efforts to offer universal right to use to healthcare for Americans, control the rising costs of healthcare, adjust the private insurance industry complete things like state-based private exchanges and online marketplace that brings together state-approved insurance plans from multiple companies so consumers can shop for individual insurance plans, improve the quality of healthcare and make healthcare choices more consumer friendly and easier to understand (Medical Mutual,2017). Healthcare reform involves nearly all Americans from old or young,
Since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010, there has been a continuous debate about the effects it will have on the United States economy. Many people argue that expanding insurance coverage for all people will create crippling cost burdens for the economy and taxpayers. While others believe that the ACA will in fact give the economy a much-needed boost. In 2006 as a measure to improve overall healthcare, the state of Massachusetts implemented the Health Care Insurance Reform Act. This paper looks at the positive and negative effects of the Massachusetts Health Care Insurance Reform Act (MHRA). Using a literature review of public health studies ranging from 2009-2012, I argue that there are both positive and negative effects of the Massachusetts Health Care Insurance Reform. While the Massachusetts Reform increased health insurance coverage for all citizens and decreased the number of uninsured citizens accessing emergency rooms, it also did very little to decrease already existing racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities among minorities and whites in the state of Massachusetts. Understanding the Massachusetts Health Care Insurance Reform Act may help in the goal of trying to achieve near-universal healthcare. This paper provides an understanding of the missing pieces in the Massachusetts Health Care Insurance Reform Act and constitutes a starting place from which to understand the Affordable Care Act.
There are many individuals’ that think the German health care system is one of the best in the world. Back in 1883 a man by the name of Otto von Bismarck, created Germany’s health care system; a universal health care system which is the oldest in Europe ("Otto von Bismarck," 2012). When the German health care system was created, it was mandatory for a select few mainly, low-income workers and specific government employees. Gradually the system was expanded to cover the entire German population. Under the German universal health care system 85 % of their population has
Germany has a market based health system. They have universal health care that covers medical, dental, mental health and even homeopathy. Insurance companies cannot make a profit from insured customers. Therefore, the price for insurance is negotiated between the government and the Insurance provider. Like any other healthcare system there are
U.S. health care reform is currently one of the most heavily discussed topics in health discourse and politics. After former President Clinton’s failed attempt at health care reform in the mid-1990s, the Bush administration showed no serious efforts at achieving universal health coverage for the millions of uninsured Americans. With Barack Obama as the current U.S. President, health care reform is once again a top priority. President Obama has made a promise to “provide affordable, comprehensive, and portable health coverage for all Americans…” by the end of his first term (Barackobama.com). The heated debate between the two major political parties over health care reform revolves around how to pay for it and more importantly, whether it
This paper presents a comparison of the health care systems in the United States and the Netherlands. The health care systems in the United States and the Netherlands are both a work in progress. This paper compares the many common strengths and weaknesses between these two countries health care systems using recent data and current trends. The government of the Netherlands has been working towards providing universal health coverage for their citizens since World War II. The government of the United States is divided on the necessity of providing universal health coverage for its citizens; however, it appears to be moving in this direction. The United States approximately 70 years behind the Netherlands on the health care front. Comparing the similarities and differences in the health care systems of the United States and the Netherlands gives a lot of insight into policy changes and reform that could benefit the United States. The continually improving health care system in the Netherlands may be the best model for the United States as it moves towards a Universal Health Care system.
Germany’s and the United States’ healthcare systems compare and contrast in many ways. Germany has the third richest economy in the world and many categorize their healthcare system as socialized. Germany provides medical care to all of the citizens—young, poor, old, sick, and injured. Otto von Bismarck the Prussian chancellor in the 1880s in Germany invented the concept of healthcare systems, the notion that a government has to provide mechanisms so all its people can get medical care when they need it. In 1883, the Sickness Insurance Act was passed, representing the first social insurance program. Over the past 130 years the
Comparing health care systems of the United States and Germany. Assessing the areas of health care for adults’ elderly and retired, coverage for prescriptions, referrals for testing and specialties including pre-existing conditions, and financial effects and of course the children.
Waiting lists for treatments are rare. Medical facilities are equipped with the latest technology and the statutory health insurance scheme provides nearly full cover for most medical treatments and medicines. Almost everybody in Germany has access to this system, irrespective of income or social status.
Germany is the first to establish the national social health insurance system in the world since 1883 [136]. The health insurance in Germany is mandatory for all the population [137], and as a universal multi-payer system, it is split in two parts. One is the statutory health insurance (SHI), roughly 85% of the population who are with a free choice of the comprehensive health insurance plan provided by each of more than 200 competing SHI companies [138]. Of these, the medical services are reimbursed by SHI companies, and the framework and contents of quality assurance for these services is specified centrally by the Federal Joint Committee which is the highest decision-making body of the joint self-government of physicians, dentists, hospitals and health insurance