Healthcare System in China and in the United States - Term Paper Example

  The social and cultural climate prevailing in China is undermining the effectiveness of health policies. Due to the societal norms and pressures, communicable diseases such as SARS and HIV/AIDS have proved especially hard to deal with (Liming 330).  The sensitive nature of these issues has made dissemination of information that much difficult.  For example, the tourism industry suffered heavily with the last SARS outbreak.  So, the government is hesitant to release vital public health information for protecting certain economic interests.

The recent amendment of the Law of Controlling Infectious Diseases is a step in the right direction. The existing system allows for too much inequality in terms of access to quality healthcare (Liu 535). No such parallels are to be found in the US healthcare system, as the society is culturally more open and cosmopolitan. Let us see how the economic models of the two healthcare systems face up. In China, the economic and medical reforms undertaken by the Chinese government had undermined the system, as traditional lines of communication and control within the system were weakened.

The services that were once subsidized or free now come at a high cost. This phenomenon coincides with the collapse of the traditional collective health-care system that had previously provided some support for the rural people. Doctors and nurses in such facilities are obviously overworked and underpaid. Retaining talent in such a scenario is proving to be very difficult as doctors are constantly on the lookout for better opportunities elsewhere. (Hesketh and Zhu 1617) As a result, the government’s revenue as a percentage of GDP fell 3 percentage points from 8% to 5% in the span of a decade (Hu 480).

The situation in the United States is equally deplorable. The way in which the United States healthcare system works means that universal free basic health care had disappeared. Employers who previously provided insurance coverage for their employees no more have the necessary funds to continue such plans.