Health Care System

Medicare's finances are in peril for two main reasons. The first is steadily rising health-care costs. In 1996, Medicare spending, at 12.2% of the federal budget, was the third-largest budget item. Only Social Security (the federal government's pension plan for retirees) and defense spending consumed a larger share. Medicare spending totaled $196 billion in 1996, and according to estimates from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), it will reach $312 billion in 2002.

A national health care system in the United States has been a contentious topic of debate for over a century. Social reformists have been fighting for universal health care for all Americans, while the opposition claims that a “social” heath care system has no place in the ‘Land of the Free’.

The U.S. health care system faces challenges that indicate that the people urgently need to be reform. Attention has rightly focused on the approximately 46 million Americans who are uninsured, and on the many insured Americans who face rapid increases in premiums and out-of-pocket costs. As Congress and the Obama administration consider ways to invest new funds to reduce the number of Americans without insurance coverage, we must simultaneously address shortfalls in the quality and efficiency of care that lead to higher costs and to poor health outcomes. To do otherwise casts doubt on the feasibility and sustainability of coverage expansions and also ensures that our current health care system will continue to have large gaps even for those with access to insurance coverage.

The first characteristic of the US health care system is that there is no central governing agency which allows for little integration and coordination. While the government has a great influence on the health care system, the system is mostly controlled through private hands. The system is financed publically and privately creating a variety of payments and delivery unlike centrally controlled healthcare systems in other developed countries. The US system is more complex and less manageable than centrally controlled health care systems, which makes it more expensive. The second characteristic of the US health care system is that it is technology driven and focuses on acute care. With more usage of high technology,

During Fulgencio Batista’s 26 year reign from 1933 to 1959, access to healthcare for the majority of Cuban citizens was very limited. There were large

Cuban healthcare is a unique system that came about as a result of campaign promises from Fidel Castro in 1959. Although during Batistas rule doctors were well trained and respected, most all the countrys health services and facilities were located in concentrated population centers. The lack of access to rural farmers and families had created marked disparities between the two groups. However, as Fidel rose to power, his new state would act to provide free and accessible care to all citizens of Cuba.2 He set very specific policy goals for the country such as:

Health care systems are organizations that are formed to meet the overall health needs of the population. Health care is regarded as one of the leading cause in promoting not only physical and mental health but the well-being of the population. Legislation is implemented requiring government to offer services to all members of its society. The role of health services and the organizations that provide aid is to focus on the health of an individual and to uphold their human rights. According to WHO (2013), a “well-functioning health care system requires a robust financing mechanism, a well-trained and adequately-paid workforce, reliable information on which to base decisions and policies, and well maintained facilities and logistics to deliver quality medicines and technologies (World Health Organization; 2013).

Throughout the documentary we see many things wrong with the resources people receive, we see this primarily with money. There are two types of currency in Cuba, peso and cuc, even having certain money makes you more privileged than others. Peso was described as being worth almost nothing that can buy basic necessities such as rice and coffee, while cuc on the other hand is described as more privileged. People with access to this money are able to buy things like shampoo, strollers and handbags; things that everyone should be able to have access to. Having special rights because of money seems to be very common in Cuba, there was a moment in the documentary when the narrator was denied access to one of the best hospitals located in Cuba because he didn’t have enough money, this comes to

The topic I will present is on Cuba’s efficient health care system. A number of sources – The World Health Organization, Huffington Post, and CNN – have recently claimed that, contrary to popular belief, Cuba’s health care system and doctors are among the greatest in the world. Although, it is known that Cuban doctors have incredibly limited resources, they are still able to care for the majority of the population of Cuba. Cuba uses a preventative method, where they work towards preventing the outbreak of a disease rather than treating their patients once they do contract the virus. The Cuban health care system is also explained to be an example for what the perfect health care model should be like in all developing country.

This idea allowed Cubans have complete access to healthcare and more thorough check-up from the physicians. Thanks to the free education, students who wish to become doctors are given free education and are able to also attend medical school for free. Medical students are required to help with the country and provide their free service to all individuals around Cuba.

Under Fidel Castro, Cuba introduced a free health care service so that no one would have to pay for medical care. He also started a massive inoculation program because there was a very high infant death rate. (Source 7) Before the revolution, Cuba had 6,000 doctors. Of these, 64% worked in Havana where most of the rich people of Cuba lived. When Castro ordered for the doctors to be redistributed throughout the country to help all the people of Cuba, over half of the doctors decided to leave Cuba. To replace the doctors that left, Castro had Cuba build three new training skills centers for doctors. (Source 7)

As I stated in my summary, our textbook indicates that it is only by “making concerted efforts to develop strategies that we can begin to build and restore trust in the health care system” (Pozar, 2016, p. 292). This can be done through effective communications stemmed from and practiced by the health care industry. Recognizing that there are issues is only the beginning to resolving the problem of our distrust in our “broken” health care system. Health care providers should instill ethics into their sense of right and wrong doing and as part of their beliefs about rights their patients possess and the duties they owe to them. However, sometimes issues like the ones you mention in your post such as greed and desensitization, make healthcare

Cuba is island right under the Florida coast in the Carrabin. Home to nearly 11 and a half million people. 90% of which speak Spanish and the other 10% percent speak either Haitian Creole, Lucimi, Galician, or Corsican. The male and female population count have been fairly close together for the past few years males at 51 percent and females at 49 percent. A Few year were right through the middle. A female life expectancy is close to 82 years while a male’s life expectancy is close to 78 years in Cuba. Age group of 0-14 years old are 19.1 percent of the country’s population, and age’s 15-64 is just over 70 percent, and the other 10.9

In this paper there will be a brief discussion of three forces that have affected the development of the U.S healthcare system. It will observe whether or not these forces will continue to have an effect on the U.S healthcare system over the next decade. This paper will also include an additional force, which may be lead to believe to have an impact on the health care system of the nation. And lastly this paper will evaluate the importance of technology in healthcare.

Given the fact that the United states of America and Canada are linked together sharing a border which is open basically to and from both sides, their health care systems are highly different from each other and how the services are financed, organized and given to the citizens.