Trends in Medical Care Around the World Alex Blissitte As the many cultures and societies across the world change, the spread of healthcare changes, as well. Through research, we are able to compare both the benefits and disadvantages of various types of healthcare across the world. By studying trends and applying current knowledge, we can predict what the future holds for medical care in both our own country and other countries. Two examples of a developed healthcare system can be seen in Australia and England. In Australia, medical care is universal, meaning the federal government pays a large percentage of the cost of services in public hospitals. Typically, 100% of in-hospital costs, 75% of General Practitioner and 85% of specialist services are covered, based on whether the patient receives other benefits, and whether the patient has crossed the threshold for further subsidised service. England’s healthcare is mainly provided by the public health service, the service that provides healthcare to all permanent residents of the UK that is free at the point of use, and paid for from general taxation. Since health is a devolved matter, there are differences with the provisions for healthcare elsewhere in the United Kingdom.Though the public system dominates healthcare provision in England, private health care and a wide variety of alternative and complementary treatments are available for those willing to pay. On the other end of the spectrum, South Africa and India are
By examining both the United States health care system and the British health care system, it will provide insight of which elements of each system are beneficiary and which elements of each system are disadvantages. Therefore, this paper will provide an overview of the pros and cons of each system to decide where improvements need to be made.
The last main policy area noted by David Moon is the rejection of the private sector and thus heavy use of the public sector. This is the main issue in where England and Wales have severely diverged when it comes to health policy. As argued by Peter Vincent-Jones and David Hughes, this is because we have seen both countries diverge away from the norm. Wales has moved towards a public provision model whilst England has moved towards a hybrid of private and public. Vincent-Jones and Hughes point to both as diverging but point towards England as the culprit who has diverged from the social norm of the NHS, a public-funded health service, implying that if it was the other way around England may have stopped the radical agenda. This shows a key
The healthcare system in Australia is complex involving many funders and healthcare providers. In 2011 to 2012 the health expenditure in Australia was estimated to have been $140.2 billion, which made up 9.5 percent of gross domestic product in that year (AIHW, 2013). Responsibilities are split between different levels of government, and between the government and non-government sectors. With non-government sources funding for about 30 percent of the total health expenditure each year (AIHW, 2013). Australians make their contribution to their healthcare system through taxes, including the Medicare levy, and through private financing such as private health insurance. Private health insurance in Australia is a voluntary facility for private funding of hospital care and ancillaries. Insurance funds may cover the costs of treatment for private patients in private or public hospitals and can include some services that Medicare does not cover. The Australian governments fund for almost 70 percent of the health expenditure each year (AIHW, 2013). The federal government contributes to approximately two-thirds, while State, Territory and local governments together contribute for the other one-third (AIWH, 2013). As a generalization the Australian government is primarily responsible for the funding of healthcare, through health insurance arrangements and direct payments to the state and territories, while state and territories are primarily responsible
Great Britain stands on its own as a separate entity that ensures the citizens of the federal government have accessed equitable health care services. The payments of the health care services offered by the states go all the citizens is catered for by the general taxation body within the federal government. Every state has a private health care centre that is smaller than the public health care sector. The private health care provisions are provided by the private sector through direct funding by the patient or through taxation accruals in cases where the patient suffers complicated cases like AIDS/HIV (Dewar, 2010).
Health care has been inclined by several significant events that have occurred throughout history. Change is the primary focus on what has shaped health care and continues to by pain of improvement, and to focus on the importance of our population and their needs. Though there are several influences politics, finance, culture, technology, health trends, and religions they all play a major contribution towards shaping the healthcare field. (Shi & Singh, 2012) Throughout this paper we will present significant events that have changed and affected health care today, give details about how the historical evolution of health care
The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast the Healthcare system in the United States versus the Healthcare system in the United Kingdom. When comparing the healthcare systems of the two countries the first thing that should be done is determining the differences between a “Good Healthcare System, which is the best attainable average level and a Fair Healthcare System, which is the smallest feasible differences among individuals and groups.” Ibid., p. 27-35 Data also analyzed in Gerard Anderson and
For instance, high income-earners in Australia are taxed a 1% levy to fund the health care system. For proper funding and accountability in the use of the health care funds, Australia has established a national health policy, which emphasizes the provision and accessibility universal health services to the public. In fact, the federal government plays the all-important role of covering most of the public medical expenses in hospitals, albeit by way of subsidies in some cases. This coverage could be in form of subsidies on services or drugs, as realized in the Pharmaceutical Benefits Schemes (Hill et al., 2005). The level of expenditures the federal government covers in the health care system varies from in-hospital costs, general practitioner, to specialist services.
The Australian health care system is not a very complicated one, it is solely based on two main sectors which are the ‘public’ and ‘private’. The public sector allows one to claim health care benefits and payments through the universal health coverage developed by the Australian government, called Medicare. Medicare is completely free and paid by the government through income tax received to help pay for medical, optical and hospital care (Humanservicesgovau, 2016). It also has a sub-division called the ‘Medicare safety net’ which is more so given to those on significantly low incomes to aid in financial distress. Similarly, the private sector is made up of different companies entitling different benefits, usually consisting of two plans, ‘hospital’ and ‘generic’ (Privatehealthgovau, 2016). The private health care system is more so for people who need immediate attention as the public health system has a waiting list for many different types of operations. Private health system is also customisable in circumstances such as
In terms of healthcare, which country has a better healthcare system? Every country has a different way of how their healthcare system works, but we can all learn from each other to better our health care system for the people. The healthcare regulations and policies should be in a way where it works for the economy as a whole and not for some classes. In this report it will cover the points of how the United Kingdom has a better healthcare system than the United States. The similarities and differences in the healthcare system of both countries will be discussed to fully understand why I believe the UK healthcare system is better than the US.
In line with the majority of other developed countries, the United Kingdom (UK) has offered its citizens a universal health care system that is free at the point of service. Funded primarily by taxation, the system is popular and efficient. However, along with most other health care systems around the world, it faces a series of challenges if it is to maintain viability, in the twenty-first century. These issues include; long waiting times, an aging population, funding challenges and the increasing cost of technology.
This essay discusses the history and inception of the Australian Healthcare system, how it is funded through the Government and the public income. How and where healthcare is delivered and its effectiveness, including issues and priorities according to current healthcare policies and national standards.
Health care systems are highly complex and require vast resources. Moreover, providing healthcare coverage to all citizens can be challenging for many countries. Different models and theories abound all over the world about how best to provide care and only the most developed countries have adequate resources to truly provide universal coverage to their citizens.
The United Kingdom utilizes a national health service. This service is government owned and controlled. Most practitioners are employees of the government and hospitals are government run. Taxes provide nearly 80% of the funding for their health program. The remainders of the cost are covered by employee and employer contributions. Most providers and hospitals are public, although there is a small but growing private sector. The citizens of the United Kingdom pay nothing for visits to their physician or hospital stays. They also can choose which providers they want to visit and have “good access to primary care” (Hohman, 2006). The United Kingdom ranked number 18 in overall healthcare (WHO 2000) while spending only 8.4% of its gross domestic product (Kaiser EDU). In a recent poll, 79% of UK citizens “agreed that the NHS provided them with good service” (Health Science Journal, 2009).
Regarding the conditions Marmot outlines, Oliver and Marsland appraise the UK system in their publications for Journal of Health Politics, Policy & Law and The Lancet respectively. Oliver shows comprehensive care as the most effective in cost, coverage, and equity by weighing the pros and cons of universal care. Following, he discusses the economic aspects of healthcare affecting the United States. Marsland admits the strength of the UK health scheme, yet he contends socialized medicine as the cause and accentuates adversity in the UK system from its induction till it launched major reforms in the 1980s as discussed by Oliver. Both sources admit faults in the UK system.
In the United Kingdom, public healthcare is offered to entire permanent inhabitants roughly a population of 58million. At the point of need, healthcare coverage is free and is salaried by common taxation. Approximately 18% of the income tax of the citizen is diverted to healthcare; this is approximately 4.5% of the income of the average citizen. In general about 8.4% of the gross GDP of the United Kingdom is spent on health care. Historically, in the UK, the NHS (National Health Service) the body in charge of the public health care segment was