U.S. health care system vs Japan's - Essay Example

US Health Care System Vs Japan’s With the rapidly increasing population, both Japan and the United s have faced different challenges in the provision of healthcare to their citizens. However, study shows that United States health care system has completely lagged behind as compared to that of Japan. Research shows that Japan’s life expectancy is already four years longer than that of the United States of America. This mainly arises due to the differences realized on comparison of the two health care systems.

While Japan health care system mainly focuses on prevention measures, the health care system of the United States on the other hand focuses on curative measures by use of high and latest technology while it does not insist on the prevention part (Wise & Yashiro, 2006). The System in Japan is also known to tackle issues such as obesity, addiction to drugs and health-income discrepancies while in the United States such issues have been neglected thus affecting the country negatively. Thus, research shows that the US citizens are less satisfied with the health care system in their country as compared to those of Japan.

The level of quality of the health care services in the US can only be said to be satisfactory in terms of the technology used and the level of qualification of the physicians but not in terms of the number of people who benefit from the service. This is because; the system only benefits the few who can be able to afford payment of insurance premiums. The healthcare system in Japan on the other hand, can be said to be satisfactory in terms of both the technology and the accessibility to the citizens.

This is because the health care system in Japan is universal. This means that all citizens whether self-employed or employed by the government have a right to have some form of health insurance model. Hence, most of the citizens can be able to access medical services. The financing systems of the US health care system and the Japan system are completely different with the Japan being taken to be more favorable than that of the US system. Though in both cases the government plays a certain role, in the United States it does not provide insurance covers for the citizens.

The citizens are to take insurance covers on their own, failure to which they are not able to access medical services unless their employer pays the insurance cover on their behalf. Thus, only some parts of the US have adopted the universal health care systems while the rest of the areas use insurance from their employers, spouses, parents or pay for themselves. In Japan however, the government plays a very significant role in the financing of health care services (OECD, 2004). From the year 1927, the government of Japan has been providing health care services to those individuals who are not covered by their employers.

Thus, all citizens in Japan are able to receive health care treatment without facing any difficulties or problems. While the US system increases its health care costs, the system in Japan uses a criteria of lowering its health care costs while still ensuring that quality services are offered. The United States spends most of the health care finances on the intensive care unit services thus amounts of money spend on the outpatient services have to be reduced leading to most of the outpatients not being attended to.

Japan on the other hand, is able to balance both inpatient and outpatient costs thus reducing overall costs but with quality service (Getzen, 2010). Of the two systems, United States health care system appears to be more regulated since it is mainly composed of private health care treatment. The many private health care facilities are likely to compete for patients with goal of making profits consequently leading to poor treatment. The Japan health care system on the other hand, acts as one with a motive of providing quality healthcare system (Anderson, Frogner & Reinhardt, 2007).

The system of Japan is indeed more successful than the United States health care system. This is because evidently one, the life expectancy is higher in Japan than in the US. In addition to that, the costs also clearly show that the Japan system would be more preferable than the US system. Research also shows that while Japan provided health care treatment for each individual in the country, it still managed to keep its costs and expenses as low as possible (Getzen, 2010). In conclusion, Japan has a more developed health care system than the United States but still, both countries face major challenges especially concerning the issue of the rampant population increase and the aging population.

Thus, both countries have a long way to go in terms of achieving better health care standards. The US health care system will however operate more successfully if it embraces some of the methods applied by the Japan’s health System. References Anderson, G. F., Frogner, B. K., & Reinhardt, U. E. (2007). Health spending in OECD countries in 2004: An update. . Health Affairs, 26(5), 1481-1490. Getzen, T. (2010). Health Economics and Financing.. Hoboken, NJ . OECD (2004). The OECD Health Project Private Health Insurance in OECD Countries.

United States: OECD Publishing, 2004. Wise, D. A., & Yashiro, N. (2006). Health Care Issues in the United States and Japan. London: