United States Healthcare System Versus Germany Healthcare Essay

The United States has a very unique healthcare system. Does this mean that we are simply leagues ahead of the rest of the world in healthcare? Unfortunately, not at all. The ideal of American exceptionalism is apt to describe our healthcare system. That is, our current system is exceptionally bad. Per capita, the United States spends “twice the average of other developed countries” on healthcare ("United States Per Capita Healthcare Spending Is More Than Twice The Average Of Other Developed Countries"). Yet, in the World Health Organization’s ranking of healthcare systems by nation, the U.S. comes in at a dismal 37th place, despite spending the most per person of any country on Earth on healthcare ("World Health Organization’s Ranking of the World’s Health Systems").

Around 16% of the population or around 42 million people, lacks health insurance coverage at any point in time. This is the highest amount of people in the industrialized world and causes citizens immense financial hardship and insecurity. In this system, there is also an inability to successfully control costs. The United States has the largest GDP per capita and the largest healthcare spending per capita. U.S. health outcomes compare poorly with those in the developed world. It is 20th in the world in infant mortality, 29th in low-birth weight babies, and 6th in life expectancy (Ridic, 2012). Another downfall of this system is that some hospitals are able to get the wealthiest and privately funded patients, while those that care for the poor are suffering significant financial losses and closing. Financial incentives encourage expensive high-tech diagnosis, treatment, and specialization; there is not enough primary care as compared to Canada (Cooper,

healthcare system is wasteful and ineffective. Americans are not receiving the high quality care they deserve, especially considering that their health insurance costs are higher than any other country. In an article published by Time Magazine America’s privatized system is described as, “scandalous given the extremely high cost of the U.S. health care system, which takes up 17.1 percent of the Gross National Product. This is 40 percent higher than the average for high-income countries (Carter, Brundtland 1). The U.S. is the heaviest spender on healthcare and as a result one would expect the care citizens receive to be of the highest caliber, this however is not the case. The general standards of health in the U.S. such as life expectancy and infant mortality rate are lower than in multiple countries that spend far less. In addition to this huge ineffectiveness the privatized system is also very wasteful. According to an article from the Los Angeles Times, Despite the fact that the United States has the most expensive healthcare system in the world, millions of americans cannot live healthy lives and protect their children from illness because they are unable to access affordable care (Etehad 1). The tremendous amount of money being spent on health insurance is not making U.S. citizens any healthier and leaves millions of people

I don’t think there should be a comparison because all countries manage healthcare differently. The contrast can be that they are all trying to improve healthcare services for their population. In the United Kingdom healthcare is managed by the government. It is a tax supported healthcare system. Most of their facilities are operated by the government; providers are also government employees. On the other hand, the United States offered great health benefits to the ones that have good insurance. Unfortunately, we still have people uninsured with limited or no accessibility to healthcare due to the high cost of it. We still have people paying out of pocket for doctor visits. The US is one of the developed countries that the majority of its

This paper will discuss the comparison between the U.S. healthcare system with the healthcare system of Germany. It will compare access between the two healthcare systems for children, people who are unemployed, and for people who are retired. The coverage for medications in the two healthcare systems will be reviewed and the coverage of preexisting conditions will also be discussed.

Germany was the first country in the world to legislate health insurance as compulsory for all. The nation has a contribution-based social insurance model (Doring & Paul, 2010). According to Bodenheimer and Grumbach, Germany and “its pioneering law of 1883 required certain employers and employees to make payments to existing voluntary sickness funds” (2012, p. 169). The sickness funds would compensate for the covered employees medical care. Germany provides statutory health insurance (SHI) to about 90% of its population and private health

Germany’s health care system pays for not only healthcare basics but also dental, optical, mental health. They will also pay for alternative therapies like homeopathy, to go to a spa, and more. The healthcare system is highly accepted by the German population. Pregnant women pay nothing for their care, while most Germans have a co-pay of $15 dollars once every 3 months for their doctor visits (Saul, 2014).

The health care system I decide to talk about is Germany. Germany was one of the first countries to have university program of health insurance since 1880s. The German health care system is called dual system containing both a compulsory insurance and a private insurance. People who make less than $4,350 euro per month have to be covered by statutory health insurance, and the people who make more than that can have voluntary private health insurance scheme. Unlike the USA, the cost of a hospital stay is only 10 euros per day for the members of the state plan. Like most health care system there are both pros and cons within the health care system. One of the pros for the system is that the patience get to choice their doctors and hospitals,

Data reveals that "the U.S. spends far more than all other countries on health care, but yet has the worst health outcome than any other countries, like France or Germany, that spend considerably less" (OCED, 2014). The actual reality of the quality of health care in the United States is really in bad shape. Of the 34 countries rated by the OECD study, the United States ranks #1 in health care spending per capita and # 1 in percentage of GDP spent on health care. The United States ranks #27 in overall life expectancy, behind such countries as Chile, Portugal and Slovenia. When it comes to infant mortality, the United States ranks #30, behind such countries as the Czech Republic, Estonia and Greece (OECD, 2014).

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.

The healthcare infrastructure and access to basic needs also contribute to the health profile in Germany. Health care insurance remains a universal system that features a multi-payer system combining statutory health insurance (SHI) that account for 85% of the population and private health insurance (PHI) accounting for 11%. Approximately 11.3% of Germany’s GDP is invested into healthcare spending which is among the highest in the world. Similarly, the United States allocates 17% of its GDP toward health

Germany’s ageing population will be a strain on the healthcare system as the youth population declines. The problem is replacing the younger generation to pay for the countries public healthcare system. Due to a decrease in revenue caused by an ageing population and decreasing birth rates, the healthcare system was subject to a wide reform in 2010 with a new law, GKV-Finanzierungsgesetz, dedicated to reorganizing the financing of the health system. (AngloINFO Limited. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2015)

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.

Like many countries around the world, Germany faces the issue of financial sustainability. However, Germany’s leaders understand how important universal health care is to its citizens. Scarcely one legislative period passes without regulatory change occurring somewhere in the healthcare system (Schneider, 2012). Recently, German

Germany’s universal insurance structure is modeled after a welfare system where everyone pays into the system. Coverage includes dental care, drugs, cash for glasses, and grants for young moms. Germans pay into the system just like most countries and whenever someone becomes ill or has an accident, they receive money. While Germany offers compulsory insurance to its citizens, people are free to buy their insurance from private “sickness finds”. These sickness funds are nonprofit and cannot deny any citizen due to preexisting conditions (Five Capitalistic Democracies & How They Do It).