Health Care System in the US - Essay Example

Running Head: Health Care System in US Health Care System in US Introduction In the United States periodically to discuss, the probability of failure of existing health care system and move to nationalize "social medicine". Such health systems operate in like, UK, Germany, France, Japan, Australia and Canada. (Enthoven, A. C. 2002). Proponents of nationalized medicine operate with the following arguments. World Health Organization; World Health Organization believes that access to health care is one of the inalienable human rights, regardless of the abilities of a person to pay for the services of doctors and medicines. (Sauviat , C . 2004) Obtained the evidence The U.S. spends more on health care than any other country in the world. In 2000, one American, on average, spent $ 4.5 thousand, and followed the U.S. in terms of cost, Switzerland (with mixed public-private system of financing health care services) significantly inferior to the leader ($ 3.3 million). (Feachem, R. and Sekhri, N. 2004, P, 420) However, the average life expectancy in these countries is also different, but not in favor of the U.S., the U.S. figure is 77 years in Switzerland - 80. Even greater dissonance arises when comparing the U.S. and Cuba (the state system of medicine). U.S. experts believe that the average index of health care costs hides the real inequality of different layers of the U.S. population access to health services. So, according to U.S. Department of Health \ Department of Health and Human Services, people with low income and education tend to die earlier than the educated rich. ( Lucas , J . M . 2007) A rationale for choosing the country Since 1999, the World Health Organization has been actively using a new indicator - "healthy life" \ Healthy life expectancy (HALE), that is, the life expectancy of a newborn, taking into account existing at the time of mortality. A new indicator also takes into account the amount of time a person spends in an unhealthy state. This criterion is more correctly describes the effectiveness of health systems in different countries. (Blendon, R. J, et al 2002) Some of the "successful" in medical terms, developing countries have a health system that focuses on the majority population. Principle - the "low income, quality of life" exists, for example, in Sri Lanka and China, where health care, despite the limited resources of these countries demonstrates the high efficiency. Cuba in the health care system focuses on universal health care for all population categories, and the ratio of doctors and patients is one of the highest in the world. (Dixon, J. 2002) WHO study show that the number of years spent in an unhealthy state of man, much higher than for people in poor countries. On average, a representative of the most "healthy" nation spends an unhealthy state of 9% of their lives; while for the least "normal" countries, this figure is 14%. For this indicator global leader is Japan, where citizens live on average 74.5 years of healthy life. Among the other leaders on a long and healthy life - Australia, France, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Greece, Switzerland, Monaco and Andorra (in all these countries the emphasis is on public health programs). U.S. takes 24 places in the rankings - or an average of 70 years of healthy life for babies in 1999. (Blendon, R. J, et al 2002) Analysis of the healthcare system According to the experts at Johns Hopkins University \ Johns Hopkins University, the lion's share of health expenditure due to the fact that Americans pay for work of its employees and products of pharmaceutical companies at higher rates, compared with residents of other developed countries. Robinson, J. C. (2004) For example, a urine sample in a Canadian hospital costs $ 8 in U.S. - $ 176, an electrocardiogram in Canada costs $ 13 in U.S. - $ 711, chest x-ray in Canada - $ 30 U.S. - $ 772. However, the problem is that Americans pay for their treatment is much more citizens of other developed countries, but with all this, receive for their money about the same results. However, the main problem the U.S. health care system - it actually is inaccessible to people with low incomes who have no health insurance. (Sauviat , C . 2004) In turn, the opponents of the transfer of the health system at state tracks the following arguments. In addition, they ensure a poor level of service and treatment. Nationalized medicine automatically leads to an increase in queuing patients in doctors' offices. Patients cannot choose a doctor or the timing of the visit. In the UK, every year 800 thousand people waiting for months they needed hospitalization. In Canada, the waiting period between receiving the referral to a specialist (e.g., endocrinologist or gynecologist) and a visit to this doctor, average of 17 weeks, and in some cases even more (for example, visits to the ophthalmologist had to wait 30 weeks). It is curious that the queue does not diminish even in the case of increase in public funding: for the period from 1993 to 2003, expenditures on Canadian patients increased by 21 %, and the waiting period for receiving a doctor or a procedure lengthened by 70%. (Dixon, J. 2002) Budget funding is insufficient to pay the latest innovations in medicine (equipment, medications, past generations). For example, 60% of radiology equipment in hospitals of Canada has been made in the 1950 - 1960. In the UK, held annually in May tomography at 1 million inhabitants on average in Europe - 8 per 1 million in the U.S. - 42 per 1 million (data from research Brookings Institution) - that is, physicians are deprived of the possibility of accurate diagnosis. (Dixon, J. 2002) This, in turn, leads to discrimination against patients, i.e. the physician must choose which of his patients have the opportunity to conduct a procedure. In 2002, Britain published a study, which showed that foreign patients treated in British hospitals and paying for treatment out of pocket, served better, and faster than the British, who paid for the care of the state. (Berwick, D. M.1996) Pressures on the health care workforce Another problem - the low wages of medical workers Britain forced to constantly attract doctors and nurses trained in other countries - for example, the emigration of African health professionals (mostly from former British colonies) to the British Isles has acquired massive proportions. (Ham, C. 2003) On the other hand, British dentists are moving to other countries because they are not satisfied with the level of the proposed revenue and load (for example, a British dentist who works with a national insurance system has to take 30-40 patients per day, U.S. - 12). (Ham, C. 2003) To serve patients, the average Canadian physician in 1993, he worked 46.9 hours per week in 1998 - 53.3 hours. As a result, 18% of Canadians have trouble finding physicians, particularly severe crisis in the rural areas where there are chronic shortages of radiologists, psychiatrists, anesthesiologists, oncologists, ophthalmologists ... Another indicative statistics: in the United States by 10 thousand newborns has 6.1 neonatologists in Australia - 3.7 Canada - 3.3 UK - 2.7. In the United States by 10 thousand babies are 3.3 spaces for intensive care in Australia and Canada - by 2.6, in the UK - 0.67. (Hartmann , L . 2008 ) Conclusion In many countries where nationalized health care system, medical staff periodically announces the strike, which has a negative impact on patients. According to the Centers State Insurance Medical Service \ Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, in 2004 Americans spent on health care $ 1.8 trillion., That is, 15.3% of gross domestic product. This is a record high share of GDP spent on health programs. For comparison, in Switzerland for this purpose is spent 10.9% of GDP in Germany - 10.7%, in Canada - 9.7%, France - 9.5%. (The Robinson, J. C. 2004) in the study conclude that such a situation would be quite normal if the U.S. health ranked first in the world and in their effectiveness. In 1995, the United States for a thousand people, there were 4.1 hospital beds. Moreover, this figure decreased in comparison with 1990 (4.7 beds). It was the lowest rate among all industrialized countries. For comparison, in 1995 in France on 1 thousand people, there were 8.9 hospital beds in Germany - 9.7, Japan - 16.2. In the U.S., the patient spends in hospital eight times less time than in Japan. REFERENCES Greenwell , M . ( 2009 ) The last hope for hungry kid . Washington Post , 30 May. Feachem, R. and Sekhri, N. (2004), Reply to “Questioning the claims from Kaiser”, British Journal of General Practice, 54: 422. Duhamel , G . ( 2002 ) Health system and U.S. health insurance, http://lesrapports.ladocumentationfrancaise. fr , April . Sauviat , C . ( 2004 ) Health system in crisis … Although privatized! Chronicle International IRES November 2004 . Rong è re , J . and Tavolacci , M . P . ( 2009 ) Public Health – Brief ECNs , 2nd edn, Ed Masson. Hartmann , L . ( 2008 ) The United States and the health cost of U.S. health care system – The stands of health no. 19 . Robinson, J. C. (2004), The limits of prepaid group practice. In A. Enthoven and L. 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