United States Healthcare System with the Healthcare System of Japan - Term Paper Example

? Compare and Contrast the United s Healthcare System with the Healthcare System of Japan This paper depicts a comparison between the USA and Japan in relation to healthcare systems. Apart from this, the paper primarily distinguishes the cost structure prevalent in the healthcare system and renders certain imperative statistical information regarding the two nations’ healthcare scenario. The findings reveal the healthcare structure of both the nations. Introduction Healthcare system is considered to be the association of people, resources and organizations to render healthcare based services in order to meet the health related needs of the societal people. It is a combined effort of governments, creeds, charities, or other organizations to provide healthcare services to the common masses. According to World Health Organization (WHO), the concerned goal of healthcare system is to ensure effective care process with minimum financial costs. Healthcare system depends on four important factors that are source generation, provision of healthcare services, financing and stewardship (World Health Organization, 2012).Concerning the healthcare services being provided, it has been viewed that there can be several shortcomings a nation can face in terms of increased expenses, mortality rate and improper funding among others. In present day context, it has been revealed that healthcare system of the United States is deteriorating in the global platform due to the prevalence of certain major gaps within the entire system. Focusing on these aspects, the paper intends to present a comparison and contrast between the United States healthcare system and the Japanese healthcare system. This study focuses on determining the various setbacks faced by the healthcare system of both the countries and thereby would assist in deriving better knowledge regarding the loopholes of the entire healthcare system that need to be addressed. Health Statistics and Costs: Comparison between U.S. and Japan The services rendered by the healthcare system and the costs associated with them can play a major role in country in terms of ensuring quality affordable health facilities. In case if a nation is not able render desired quality of healthcare services then it can hamper the overall health related statistics of the nation. Consequently, government and concerned authorities require developing sustainable budget based healthcare plans that can address the evolving needs. Considering health statistics, it can be comprehended that it is applied to derive actual information about the cost, time-consumption and the difficulty level associated with the existing healthcare plan. In the United States, healthcare facilities are broadly operated and owned by the private organizations. Government provides health insurance for its employees but to a certain limit. It has been perceived that 60-65% of healthcare expenses of the US come from the Tricare, Medicare, Medicaid and child care programs (World Health Organization, 2012). Life Expectancy is a term that indicates the number of years an individual is expected to live according to the statistical estimates. The statistical factors of life expectancy entails certain calculations associated with a few imperative factors such as sex, occupation and physical condition. The United States’ life expectancy measures reveal the country to be ranked in the 42nd position worldwide. With regard to the report of WHO, it has been evaluated that the life expectancy rate associated with birth in the USA is 78 years (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2012). As per the recent study of the WHO, it can be ascertained that the depicted result related to life expectancy shows loopholes within the healthcare system of the US. In this regard, the reasons behind such setbacks include income and geographical factors. On the other hand, according to a recent survey conducted, it has been revealed that Japan has the longest life expectancy at birth worldwide. With regard to the detailed analysis of Japan’s healthcare system, the life expectancy at birth has been recorded to be 83 years. In contrast, from the years 2000 and 2010, the mortality rate in the USA had decreased by 11% from 6.91 to 6.15 deaths per 1000 birth (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2012). Furthermore, according to the survey report of 2010, it had been found that infant mortality rate in the US was 2.3 per 1000 births and maternal mortality rate was 4.1 per 100,000 total births (World Health Organization, 2012). In accordance with the report, it can be determined that increased rate of mortality within Japan had been recorded in the year 2010, resulting from critical diseases such as cancer (30%) and heart disease (16%). According to the recent observations of the US healthcare system, it has been viewed that it has spent around 17.9% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on the healthcare sector, which amounts to be the highest rate worldwide (The Guardian, 2012).Whereas, Japan spent around 8.3% of its GDP on the healthcare sector in the year 2011. In the per capita expenditure perspective, the US health care spending was around US$8,400 in 2010, while, Japan’s spending in relation to the per capita expenditure was US$ 2,873. Thus, it is evident US’s per capita expenditure was more than three times as compared to Japan (World Health Organization, 2012). Health Care Financing: Comparison between U.S. and Japan The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an association, which mainly secures adequate financing from the public sector. With regard to the US, which comes under the purview of OECD, it is observed that the nation mainly secures its health spending fund from the government revenue up to the extent of 44%, which is below the average mark of 72% in all OECD countries. Moreover, it also has been observed that 37% of the people are spending their income in private insurance accounts (Chua, 2006). The financing of healthcare system usually generates two functional aspects depicted as the private insurance company and the government insurance team. Conversely, Japan population manages their financing in healthcare system with the aid of the government. With reference to a survey report, it has been found that total spending in the healthcare sector in the year 2009 consisted of administration health expenditure that amounted to 37.5%, social health coverage 48.6% and out-of-pocket payment 13.9%. Social health coverage is the prime source of financing related to healthcare sector, covering the health insurance expenditures of Japan. Thus, it can be determined that the financing systems related to healthcare sector for both the countries reflect their own setbacks and advantages (Chua, 2006). Healthcare Administration: Comparison between U.S. and Japan In the United States, the healthcare administration department agencies are U.S. Department of Health and the Human Services. They essentially provide effective healthcare services to the people of the country. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is the main agency in the US, which primarily looks after the healthcare services being rendered. HHS manages healthcare insurance, public health programs, social service programs of the common masses for assuring effective healthcare services. On the other hand, in Japan with regard to health administration perspective, it maintains high quality healthcare services. From the observations, it has been comprehended that the healthcare service departments in Japan provide around 30% of the medical expenses to the people suffering from cancer. The Health Service Bureau is the key health agency in Japan that mainly aims to ensure effective health conditions for the general public along with making health promotion regarding effective prevention measures and treatments related to various diseases (World Health Organization, 2012). Health Care Personnel and Facilities: Comparison between U.S. and Japan In the United States, private organizations are the key players in the healthcare system. In addition, state government and Federal body also look after the healthcare system in the US. Furthermore, it can be highlighted that the charitable hospitals and private hospitals apart from the government hospitals are owned by the central government or the state government. However, on further analysis, it shows that local government of the US provides general public certain amount of medical facilities pertaining to the criticality of the healthcare issues. Correspondingly, the Federal department of defense that mainly operates the military hospitals provides healthcare military funds to the personnel. US healthcare system takes care of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals for the veterans through rendering effective medical care. Moreover, the US hospitals provide outpatient care for emergency patients and specialty clinics. The patients suffering from ‘Sporadic Problem’ enjoy the provisions being provided by the hospitals such as emergency departments and urgent care. One of the key examples of specialty clinics is “SurgiCenters”. ‘Hospice Services’ is one of the facilities provided to the terminally ill patients in the US as well as the patients who have been admitted in the hospital for more than six months (NHPCO, 2012). Additionally, prenatal and dysplasia clinics are managed with the aid of governmental support in the US. This facility is basically provided to overcome the problems related to gynecologic and obstetric diseases. On the other hand, Japan deals with its increasing healthcare needs through public hospitals or private hospital clinics. The healthcare cost in Japan is low as compared to the US. The government provides the patients technologically enhanced facilities to derive treatments at a low cost such as Computerized Tomography (CT) scans and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRIs). Japan obtains MRIs at per capita, which is two times higher in comparison with the US (Frontline, 2013). It has been further observed that the medical expenses being incurred by Japan is four times lesser than that of the US. On further analysis, it has been noted that the internal hospital conditions within Japan are not capable enough to mitigate the critical healthcare issues. Scarcity of available resources’ has emerged to be the foremost health related issue within Japan (World Health Organization, 2012). Access and Inequality Issues: Comparison between U.S. and Japan The US is one of the leading nations, which has not been able to render desired access in relation to healthcare system for its population. The healthcare policies have been reformed from time to time due to the political disturbances within the US. Furthermore, the US faces the challenge of inequality related to healthcare services within its system. The inequalities arise due to lack of health insurance and other restrictions that inculcate while receiving the services. According to the survey, it has been observed that uninsured Americans are not familiar to receive preventive service facilities. At times, inequality is one of the key reasons for systematic bias in the US that has resulted in the downfall of its healthcare services. On the other hand, as per the survey results, it has been found that 14,000 patients were rejected before their treatment in Japan three times. Health insurance is mandatory for the people of Japan. There are eight types of insurance are available for the people of Japan in health care system. In Japan, 70% people are covered under public health insurance (World Health Organization, 2012). This scenario depicts the improved healthcare strategies of Japan as compared to the US. Conclusion This study primarily focused on describing the healthcare systems of the US and Japan. In the study, a critical evaluation and comparison has been made between the US and Japan on the basis of healthcare statistics and costs. Moreover, it has also highlighted a comparison between health care financing system of the US and Japan. In addition to this, the study assisted in gaining information related to the administrative differences between two nations in terms of health care system. The study has revealed the prevalence of differentiated personnel and facilities of healthcare system in the USA and Japan. It is observed that in certain facets such as availability of technologically superior services and affordability of healthcare facilities Japan has taken the lead over the US. Thus, the US needs to ensure a refurnished approach related to future developments in the healthcare system. References Chua, K.P. (2006). Overview of the US health care system. Retrieved from http://www.amsa.org/AMSA/Libraries/Committee_Docs/HealthCareSystemOverview.sflb.ashx Frontline. (2013). Five capitalist democracies & how they do it. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/countries/ NHPCO. (2012). Hospice Care in America. Retrieved from http://www.nhpco.org/sites/default/files/public/Statistics_Research/2012_Facts_Figures.pdf The Guardian. (2012). Healthcare spending around the world, country by country. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/jun/30/healthcare-spending-world-country U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2012). Health, United States. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus12.pdf World Health Organization. (2012). Health service delivery profile. Retrieved from http://www.wpro.who.int/health_services/service_delivery_profile_japan.pdf Read More