What Is The Disparate Features Of American And Japanese Health Care

The health care system varies from country to country although a factor they all have in common is that great measures of research are taken in order to find results and achieve a good health care system for the economy. Between Australia and japan, there are great initiatives taken to help in association to this, including economic, social and political circumstances, all influencing the way in which the countries health care system is shaped and run.

Every developed country around the globe is going through a lot of difficulties in providing better healthcare to its citizens. As stated by Norris (2002) the causes are universal and the increase in the percentage of elderly people which require better healthcare, the increasing cost of medical technology, patients' expectations of services and quality, and economic and social changes that reduce the state's ability to fund healthcare while increasing its involvement. All of these factors drive up costs and reduce equity of access (Norris, 2002).

United States is the largest and most diverse society on the globe. It spends almost 2 trillion dollars every year on health care, which is one in every seven dollars in the economy. U.S is one of the very few nations where all its citizens do not have medical coverage. Although it spends heavily on per capita on health care, and it has the most advanced medical technology system in the world, still it is not the healthiest nation on earth. The system performs so poorly that it leaves 50 million without health coverage and millions more inadequately covered (Garson, 2010).

In “The American Health Care Paradox”, Elizabeth H. Bradley and Lauren A. Taylor explore why the American health care system achieves mediocre results, despite spending a higher percentage of its gross domestic product than any other country in the world on health care. They explain that health care is more than just getting medical treatment, but there are social factors that affect a person 's health. The authors claim that more government spending on medical treatments is not the solution to the health care paradox, but we should focus more on social needs that have a greater impact on health. Case studies and interviews with physicians, other health care providers, and social service providers are used to support the authors’ claims. Though the authors do not explicitly state the path they believe the American health care system should follow, they give examples of foreign health care systems and domestic health care projects that may point in the right direction.

Different countries have different health systems. Japan uses a Bismarck model. In general these models are highly regulated and part of their ideal is that they provide insurance to its entire population. If we look at the United States of America, their model more difficult because it is nearly a free market system that encompasses many different health system models. We will compare several points in each of these country’s systems.

The United States along with other countries try to find ways to control medical costs. In 2009, the United States changed HMOs into accountable health organizations in which hospitals and doctors form an alliance and take financial and management responsibilities for their patients (Rodwin, 2010). France changed how they did their billing and started using state managed care. By 2012, Japan should be processing all claims through electronic billing. Instead of fee-for-service, Japan is using per-diem and bundled payments to pay physicians and hospitals. No matter how a country looks at it managed care tools are still around, and they will always be. The government just needs to listen to the voice of its people (Rodwin, 2010).

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the differences between the healthcare in East Asia and the United States. The paper will discuss government programs that each country offers its citizens, how certain countries have taken preventative measures for its people and how the health of people in Asian countries versus the U.S differs and some possible explanations for why this may occur. This paper will discuss many different countries because Asia has many developing countries and no country in Asia has developed at the same rate. Healthcare spending will be looked at in Asian countries and the U.S to see the differences in spending and how more or less spending benefits the population. Healthcare is a huge part of the world’s economy and as certain population age, like the U.S’s and Japan’s it will be up to the governments to decide how to deal with the aging population and how to ensure that the healthcare industry does not become a bubble. As the population ages, there will be a bigger demand for healthcare and programs to support the elderly. This is a problem that the United States will have to deal with by 2030 because all the baby boomers will be over the age of 65 by then and they will have their hands out for government programs that support them for healthcare. This essay will look at other countries and how they have handled the increasing demand for healthcare. The United States has only recently made healthcare affordably accessible to everyone, and still

In Japan it seems as if the doctors have a closer relationship with their patients mainly because the patients’ g o to the doctor three times more than Americans and the doctors’ still make house calls. Japan has always had extraordinary health statistics, mainly because the have a healthier diet and lifestyle.

With all the focus our country has recently put on Healthcare I thought is necessary to look at a country which has used a Universal Health care model to understand where we as a country are heading and why so many people are opposed to it. For years I have heard that Japanese healthcare was one of the best in the world and known of people who would travel to Japan to receive treatment. Japan has been at the forefront of technology and it seems that the use of that technology has helped them advance in Health Care as well. In comparing both Japanese and American Health Care Systems I am hoping to find if Japanese Health Care is better than our American Health Care System.

This program requires all citizens to have coverage either through an employer based program or through the national program which also includes public assistance to low income households (The Commonwealth Fund, 2015). Insurance companies are not-for-profit and are mandated to cover the same services for the same price. Every two years the Japanese Ministry of Health negotiates the fixed prices and provides oversite for tight control of the insurers, approved pharmaceuticals and medical devices (The Commonwealth Fund, 2015). Citizens do not have the right to choose, but are covered by insurers in the prefecture in which they reside (The Commonwealth Fund, 2015). Premiums are determined for employer based programs and the National Health Insurance Program based on salary. An amount designated as member responsibility can be up to 30% and is also based on salary (The Commonwealth Fund, 2015). After the amount is reached care is covered in full. Private insurance is held by 70% of the population to cover out of pocket expenses, treatments not covered, and lumps sums if members are out of work due to hospitalization (The Commonwealth Fund, 2015). Access to care is open; therefore, patients can pick the provider or service. One of the issues Japan is focusing on is the distinction between primary care and specialist care. Currently, many citizens will go to clinics, hospitals, or directly to a specialist and

In comparison, it is evident that life expectancy in Japan is higher than in the U.S. and the same applies to child mortality where Japan records lower infant deaths. Apparently, the United States spends a lot of funds to cater for the health of a single person, thus spending much of its GDP on healthcare as compared to Japan. Evidently, Americans are more prone to lifestyle diseases such as obesity, which happens to be common among young people as well as the older generation.

The United States represents one of the largest healthcare markets in the world. It spent a whopping 2.34 trillion dollars in the year 2008 alone in this market. . However, one of the biggest social and economic problems that the it is facing today is related to its healthcare and the costs associated with health insurance and medical care are continuously rising and are not only impacting those who are not yet insured but those who are as well. (Barlett, 2004)

Conservative economists argue and decry a regulated health care system because of an “adverse selection problem”. One way to lower the price of health care and in turn lower medical insurance is to expand the “pool” of insurance users. So to combat that problem, it is recommended to take a similar approach as in Japan, which boasts the second largest economy and the best health statistics in the world. For example, the Japanese go to the doctor three times as often as Americans, have more than twice as many MRI scans, use more drugs, and spend more days in the hospital. Yet Japan spends about half as much on health care per capita as the United States. By law in Japan, everyone must buy health insurance -- either through an employer or a community plan -- and, unlike in the U.S., insurers cannot turn down a patient for a pre-existing illness, nor are they allowed to make a profit. This approach expands on similar to that of large corporations of 500 or more and pools their resources. Indeed, the entire country loses because of the lost productivity of those whose diseases and disabilities are not addressed because of a lack of health insurance. Currently, there are serious gaps in both public and private health insurance programs in the United States, and these gaps limit access to health care. Neither Medicare nor private employment-related health insurance provides much coverage for long-term care. Private health insurance plans are increasingly

The Japanese healthcare system provides free screening examinations for certain diseases, infectious disease control and prenatal care. This healthcare is provided by both the local and the national governments. Payments for personal medical services are offered through an insurance system called universal healthcare. This system provides equality of access, along with fees that are set by a particular government committee.

Japan has one of the longest healthy life expectancies, as well as one of the lowest infant mortality rates in the world (CITE). Part of this is due to lifestyle choices, but it also makes a case for national health insurance. Since everyone is covered, everyone has access to affordable health care and can receive necessary treatment when needed.