Healthcare in America and Other Countries - Case Study Example

Comparative Healthcare insert here insert here Comparative Healthcare Healthcare is an important issue which frequently in the news in the wake of the election of Barack Obama, the first African-American president in the history of the United States. President Obama was elected on a promise to reform Washington and changed the way the United States operates both domestically as well as on the international stage. Seeking to make a variety of changes in the social, economic and political realms, President Obama has inherited a variety of challenges not the least of which is the healthcare system. Accordingly Obama has inherited an economic crisis with international ramifications, wars in Iraq as well as Afghanistan, and in America, a health care system which is in dire need of reform. The attempts by President Obama to overhaul and reform the health care system of the United States have been controversial from the outset and healthcare remains a heated issue in the United States. Although it is still early on in his term, President Obamas attempts to transform the American health care system have arguably been the most controversial aspects of his presidency (Healthcare for All, 2009). Seeking to understand the important issues with respect to healthcare in the United States, the following will provide a comparative analysis of healthcare by looking at health in the United States as well as healthcare around the world. The issue of healthcare and the president’s desire to transform healthcare in America are important because they will affect all Americans as well as set an important precedent with respect to how health care is delivered. It will also affect the quality of care offered throughout the country. The time has come for the United States to follow the lead of the rest of the Western world and provide healthcare for all of its citizens. This essay now turns to introduction to the American healthcare system and explores the challenges associated with healthcare provision in America today. Healthcare in America The United States is one of the wealthiest countries in the world but one of the few Western countries without universal healthcare (Healthcare for All, 2009). .In the United States, health insurance exists to ensure that there is a financial means through which basic healthcare can be accessed by those who can afford it. Comprehensive individual health insurance plans are privatized and dependent upon an individuals age, his race or ethnicity, his residency, his employment status, and a variety of other factors. Medicare is a federally funded government insurance program for people who are disabled, persons above the age of 65 years old and people with permanent disabilities who are eligible for Social Security. For most individuals in the United States private healthcare is the only option and private healthcare plans supply the coverage one needs in order to pay for much-needed medical support. It should be noted that Medicare is only available to certain classifications of individuals and the present Obama administration is seeking to change that (Health Insurance, 2009). Accordingly, the new administration in Washington aims to implement a single payer government system of healthcare which focuses on an important role for the federal authorities in the provision of healthcare as opposed to a market-based system of health (Health Insurance Reform, 2009) . Within the present American system, healthcare companies exert much influence and have tremendous political power. Proponents of this reform argue that there are important inequalities within the present American healthcare system and that these disparities are deadly. Accordingly, certain groups of people do not receive the same level of care as others and this is been proven from an ethnic and racial standpoint. For example, African Americans generally have poor healthcare in this country and a lower life expectancy. In addition African-American babies have a 300% greater likelihood of being born underweight and there are a variety of other racial disparities within the American healthcare system today (Smedley et al, 2003). The federal government seeks to fundamentally overhaul the healthcare system in the United States and plans on spending $1 trillion US dollars to fund these changes (Health Insurance, 2009). What is healthcare like in the rest of the world? European Healthcare While Europe is incredibly diverse, universal health care is a feature of the European health experience. A recent article in the New York Times conducted a comparative study of healthcare costs throughout the world. In Greece, the government and individuals combined spend about $2,300 per capita on healthcare each and every year with an average life expectancy of 79 years. In the Canadian context, the government and individuals spend approximately $3,300 per year on healthcare and the average life expectancy is that country is 80 years. In the United States by contrast, approximately $6,000 per year is spent, yet American life expectancy is just below 78 years. In the United States of America, 25% of all healthcare spending is eaten up by administrative costs whereas in Europe, healthcare administrative costs account for approximately only 15% of healthcare spending. Since comparisons are made today between the healthcare system and the United States and the United Kingdom, let us turn to an overview of healthcare in the UK and an analysis of the healthcare on the other side of the Atlantic (Leondhart, 2009). Healthcare in the United Kingdom is universal and is provided primarily by the National Health Service. The National Health Service provides healthcare to all citizens of Britain as well as to UK permanent residents. The system is free in the sense that one need not pay for healthcare at the hospital but the charges associated with healthcare are paid through annual taxes. Healthcare in the United Kingdom is universal in the sense that it applies to all and that the government plays an important role in the provision of healthcare throughout Great Britain. National healthcare in Great Britain is funded through general taxation and is used by approximately 92% of the total population (About the NHS, 2009). Accordingly, while private insurance does exist and is used for certain special circumstances, the national service is used by most citizens of the United Kingdom. The government in London is responsible for the provision of national healthcare through the Department of Health and healthcare delivery is managed with a budget obtained from tax dollars. Accordingly the British National Health Service is the worlds largest service provider and it provides all of its services free of charge to citizens of the United Kingdom. While a free, available to all, health insurance system is the norm in Europe, in the United States that concept is quite controversial. How does the United States’ northern neighbor Canada respond to the challenges associated with healthcare in the 21st century? (About the NHS, 2009). Canadian Healthcare Much like in Europe, the Canadian healthcare system is universal (Hollander et al, 2009). While privatization does exist with respect to supplemental health insurance, which is usually paid for by an employee as well as by an employer, the federal government maintains a prominent share of the responsibility for providing healthcare in this country. Universal healthcare means that everyone has access to a common standard of healthcare which is considered to be one of the best in the world. All Canadians have access to the same system and the notion of having two tiers, one for the wealthy and one for the poor, is completely antithetical to the Canadian conception of healthcare. The provision of healthcare to Canadians is universal in the sense that all, regardless of income, race, ethnicity, or gender, receive the same heightened level of care (Hollander et al, 2009). Many argue that the reforms undertaken by President Obama will in fact import socialized healthcare into the United States and they point to Canada and the countries of Europe as being examples of the inefficiency and socialized health. Canada is far from a socialist society, has one of the strongest economies in the world and is fully integrated into the capitalist economic system. For more than half a century, the Canadian government has recognized the need for federal authorities to provide a common standard of care throughout the country. Canadian tax payers pay for healthcare through their taxes and visiting a doctor, clinic or emergency room is free of charge. The Canadian model does have its faults however and long waiting times as well as a variety of other common complaints are found amongst Canadian patients. Despite this, is it is important to note that in Canada everyone is provided the same level of care whether they are a Prime Minister or a pauper. Concluding Remarks The issue of healthcare in America remains quite controversial and will continue to be controversial under the presidency of Barack Obama. Will healthcare in this country be universalized or will a private system continue to reign supreme? The privatization of health care is the United States has led to this country having one of the most advanced medical care systems in the world. Unfortunately medical care in the United States is very expensive and is also quite unevenly distributed. Research has shown that certain groups as well as people with less income face significant disparities in the provision of health care. Health care inequalities in the United States are directly attributed to the fact that millions of Americans have poor healthcare coverage or none at all. The government of President Barack Obama has stepped in and is attempting to resolve some of the pertinent issues associated with an equal healthcare system. Utilizing the British and Canadian models, United States will hopefully establish a universal healthcare system which is free and available to all. The time is come for the United States to understand that the provision of healthcare is a duty for the government and that the privatization of health care has done more to hurt the health of the United States and its citizens than to help it. Healthcare should not be a privilege, it should be a right. Canada, Great Britain and other countries of Europe have established an important precedent which stipulates that the government must ensure a basic standard of health for all citizens. The standard must be uniform and universal and it must ensure that the social status, income, or race of an individual does not play a role in the provision of health care in this country. It is amazing that there are so many opponents to the Presidents plan. All that President Obama is trying to do is to take care of the poorest members of the society. If his healthcare plan does not pass we should be ashamed that we live in a country which does not care about the needs and wishes of its poorest citizens. The time has come for the government to take away the power of the health insurance companies and to start focusing upon the needs of the population. Health care is a right and President Obama is trying to ensure that everyone has access to equal care. References About the NHS. (2009). National Health Service. Last Accessed November 3 2009 http://www.nhs.uk/nhsengland/aboutnhs/pages/About.aspx Healthcare for All. (2009). National Public Radio. Last Accessed November 3 2009 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91972152 Health Insurance Reform. (2009). The White House. Last Accessed November 3 2009 http://www.whitehouse.gov/realitycheck/ Hollander, M.J. et al. (2009). “Increasing Value for Money in the Canadian Healthcare System”, Healthcare Quarterly, 12(1): 38-47. Leondhart, D. (October 18, 2006). A Lesson From Europe on Health Care. New York Times. Last Accessed November 3 2009 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/18/business/18leonhardt.html?ex=1318824000&en=0d8e60c7cd0ec3db&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss Smedley, B. D., A. Y. Stith, & A. R. Nelson (editors). 2003. Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. Read More