Healthcare in the US and Italy - Term Paper Example

Health Care in the United s 11 March The United s of America is one of the leading economies of the world; there are top notch facilities in the country. The health care facilities provided in the country have many flaws and this is because of the illegal immigration and other factors which affect the overall quality of healthcare in the country. This paper will throw light upon the flaws in the US health care; the paper will also compare the health care offered in Italy so as to have a clear picture of the health care facilities provided in the country. The Medicaid policies will also be discussed in this paper which will present a good picture of the health care facilities in the country. Child Birth Facilities in the USA and Italy United States of America and Italy are two very different countries; the major differences are in culture of the people living in these countries. There are major differences in how doctors in these countries deal with pain management. The process of child birth is the most beautiful process and thoroughly enjoyed and cherished for the parents. Every precious thing comes at a hefty price, the hefty price is the pain suffered by the mother in this whole process. The mother undergoes the experience of tremendous pain in this whole process of giving birth. This paper is going to examine the methods adopted by the doctors to handle the pain which is suffered during the whole process. These methods will be examined as they are carried out in two countries namely, methods in Italy and methods in United States of America. "Peridural anesthesia is an effective technique for providing analgesia during labor and delivery. The fact that it is not at all widely used in Italy can be ascribed to the lack of technical knowledge among health-care providers and the lack of information available to pregnant women." (Epidural Analgesia, 29 November 2008). Peridural anesthesia's main function is to reduce the pain which occurs during childbirth, in order to perform surgeries the doctors inject Peridural anesthesia in the spinal column with the help of a needle or a tube in a patient. The same reduces the pain significantly and it is used in many countries. "Epidural anesthesia is an attractive alternative to general anesthesia for a person who has medical complications that might make it difficult to tolerate or recover from general anesthesia." (Epidural Anesthesia) Italy is an exceptional country and does not follow the technique of regional anesthesia during childbirth and the method is almost obscure in the southern parts of the country. Most of the surgeons in Italy consider general option over regional anesthesia, they firmly believe in the notion that general anesthesia is relatively much safer than regional anesthesia. It is believed by many surgeons in Italy who handle the case of childbirth that the use epidural anesthesia gives rise to neurological complications. This perception of the surgeons in Italy is challenged by many, "According to Koll (1) out of 1541 reports of injury following anesthesia, more than half of the 227 cases of neurological damage were related to general anesthesia. In another survey conducted by INSERM (France), 19 accidents (6 of which were fatal) were reported, accounting for 0.43% of 4430 administrations of spinal anesthesia. In this last survey approximately 70% of the patients were elderly and therefore, presented a higher risk of complications. A survey in our hospital reveals 2 non-fatal accidents related to 6690 administrations of spinal anesthesia. Therefore, the rate of complications for spinal anesthesia in our hospital is 0.02%. These data show that the number of serious complications related to spinal techniques is not higher than that of general anesthesia." (Epidural Analgesia). There are various risks involved in the use of Peridural anesthesia, when anesthesia is used on a patient who has never been examined before, the anesthetic risk in that particular case rises to alarming high levels on the contrary it is found that the patient whose blood reports are taken and when the same anesthesia is used on that patient, the risk reduces to a great extent. Many Italian doctors believe that analgesia need not be used in the process of childbirth. Analgesia is another drug which reduces the labor pain significantly in a patient. Doctors believe that the pain suffered without the use of this drug is very normal. The worst part in this case is that when a child is born, after so much pain suffered by the mother, she can't even see her new born baby. In USA the most popular method of childbirth is epidural anesthesia, it is considered by many as one of the most effective ways to relieve pain during childbirth. There is a flaw in following this method; it leaves a woman unable to push her unborn child and in this case it becomes necessary to use the procedure of forceps deliveries. Epidural procedure is the most widely used by the women in United States of America. On the other hand Epidural anesthesia is very rarely used in Italy because it is believed that the women in Italy don't have the awareness about this method which helps immensely in relieving the pain; another reason is that the women in Italy are not very familiar with this method because very few women know about this. To conclude it is fair to say that the Italian women don't use epidural anesthesia during childbirth which is considered by many as the best in US, there is no doubt that epidural anesthesia brings down the level of pain during childbirth but at the same time its cost is much higher than that of any other methods used during the same process. Illegal Immigration and its impact Healthcare in the USA Every year millions of people sneak ill legally into another country by crossing the border line, this is very common in United States of America. This is called ill legal Immigration, in other words, people who do not have work permit or any kind of permission from the government to come and stay in that particular country. The same affects the health facilities in the country and negatively impacts the overall healthcare facilities in the USA. Research has found that ill legal immigration affects the citizens of that particular country, especially the poor people and the legal immigrants. It is also found that the taxes paid by these illegal immigrants are far less than the services received by them. Countries like United States of America are trying their level best to counter this by increased border patrol but this is not only reason for illegal immigration, most of the cases occur because of people who overstay even after their visa is expired. United States of America provides Medicaid facilities to the legal and illegal immigrants but this results in a very big loss for the economy of the country because the people take undue advantage of the same by overstaying in the hospitals even after recovery. The Medicaid policies depend on state to state but there are some states in America which provide the young children and elders requiring medical attention with great facilities like free drugs, free nursing and proper medical attention. Off late the federal law has brought in many restrictions to keep a check on the illegal immigrants, this also ensures a strict check on the money spent on the public welfare. Some of the services provided by Medicaid to the people are Vaccine for the children, rural health care services, transportation services and these are just a handful of many services provided by the Medicaid in America. The funding of these services provided by the states comes from a partnership between the federal and the state government and this was established in the year 1965, this comes under the social security act. "States with lower per capita income get more government money, those with higher get less. This Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) in 2000 paid 76.8% of all Medicaid in Mississippi, 70 % in the District of Columbia, and 59.8% in Alaska. Alaska's FMAP increased markedly in 2005. The federal government also reimburses states for Medicaid administration and for Indian Health Service facilities. (Medicaid) Major Problems and solutions There are many people in the US who are uninsured with regard to the health care; the young children especially become very vulnerable because of the same, an example will prove the point better young children who are uninsured have very less or no chance of being operated if they are diagnosed with a deadly disease like cancer or for that matter any other disease. The cost of health insurance has been constantly on the rise in the country and it is becoming very difficult for the people in the country to afford insuring themselves against the possible occurrence of any health related problems. "Half of the uninsured owe money to hospitals, and a third are being pursued by collection agencies. Children without health insurance are less likely to receive medical attention for serious injuries, for recurrent ear infections, or for asthma. Lung-cancer patients without insurance are less likely to receive surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation treatment. Heart-attack victims without health insurance are less likely to receive angioplasty. People with pneumonia who don't have health insurance are less likely to receive X rays or consultations. The death rate in any given year for someone without health insurance is twenty-five per cent higher than for someone with insurance. Because the uninsured are sicker than the rest of us, they can't get better jobs, and because they can't get better jobs they can't afford health insurance, and because they can't afford health insurance they get even sicker." (Health Care in America). Racism in the US also affects the health of the people who are a minority in the country; the blacks are very vulnerable to developing chronic diseases and this is because their homes are located in poor localities in the US, the same has a bearing on their health and makes them extremely vulnerable to developing diseases like cancer, HIV/AIDS etc. The blacks are treated differently than the whites in the US, for instance the treatment or the medical prescription given to a white would be very different than that of a black who visits the same hospital. This not only affects the health care system in the country but it also affects the overall balance of a country. The government has to take initiative to improve the overall quality of health care in the country. First of all the government should make sure that no discrimination of any kind takes place in the country, by doing this the US would make sure that the blacks or the minority do not suffer from what they are suffering now, this would enable them to prosper inevitably resulting the growth and development of the country. Another thing which has to be done is that the government must take initiative to establish more hospitals in the country because there have been numerous cases when the shortage of hospitals in the country has resulted in the death of many people so to make sure that this is not repeated in the future, the government should establish more hospitals in the country. If these two steps are initiated than the overall health care system in the country is sure to develop by leaps and bounds. References American Patrol. In American patrol.com. Retrieved on 11 March 2010 from: http://www.americanpatrol.com/REFERENCE/isacrime.html Epidural Analgesia. In Anestit. Retrieved on 11 March 2010 from: http://anestit.unipa.it/osting.htm Epidural Anesthesia. In Discovery Hospital. Retrieved on 11 March 2010 from: http://uimc.discoveryhospital.com/main.phpid=2949 Health Care in America. In Kottke. Retrieved on 11 March 2010 from: http://kottke.org/05/09/health-care-in-america Read More