Healthcare Systems Around the Globe - Essay Example

U.S Health Care System Compared with Portugal’s First School Affiliation Introduction A healthcare system can be said to be the organization of people, resources, and institutions so as to deliver health care services so as to satisfy target populations with their health needs. In this paper, I will be comparing the health the health care system of the United States of America with that of Portugal. Health Statistics and Costs: Comparison between U.S. and Portugal The U.S has a population growth rate of 0.93%. Its birth rate is at 14.

14 per 1000 population and death rate at 8.25 per 1000 population. The infant mortality rate stands at 6.5 per 1000 live births. The male life expectancy stands at 74.89 years while that of their female counterparts stands at 80.67 years (WHO 2011). The average cost of Healthcare in the United States at a cost of $5,615 for a single coverage and $15,745 for a family coverage. The average annual deductible is at $1,120 for a single coverage and at $2,075 for the family coverage. The average cost to employee enrolled in company plan is $1,225 for a single coverage and $4,316 for the family coverage (Kaiser 2013).

In Portugal, the life span as of 2012 is at an average of 79.7 years. Overall, Portugal's Health care structure is rated number 12, when it comes to performance, by the WHO in a report done back in 2000. The ranking was done for all 190 countries that are members of United Nations. Nonetheless it was position 27 with regard to being expensive. Health Care Financing: Comparison between U.S. and Portugal Around 84.7% of People in America have some form of health insurance; either through their organization or the organization of their spouse or parent (59.3%), purchased individually (8.9%), or provided by government applications (27.8%) (Kaiser 2013).

All government medical care applications have restricted eligibility, and there is no government health insurance policy organization which covers all People in America. Among those whose organization pays for health insurance policy, the employee may be required to contribute part of the cost of this insurance policy, while the organization usually chooses the plan provider and, for large groups, negotiates with the plan provider. Government directly cover 27.8% of the inhabitants, these include the elderly, disabled, children, veterans, and some of the poor.

Public spending accounts for between 45% and 56.1% of U.S. medical care spending. The Portuguese health care has got a system entails three synchronized systems. The three systems are non-reflex private health insurance, special social health insurance policy techniques for certain careers (health subsystems) and the most popular is the National Health Service (NHS). The National Health Service provides worldwide treatment. Recently, they have applied ways to guarantee the durability of the NHS by the execution of fees that a user pays on conclusion of their treatments (Frayer 2012).

Healthcare Administration: Comparison between U.S. and Portugal In the U.S, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is government’s major organization for protecting the medical aspect of all People in Americans and offering important human services, especially for those who are not able to help themselves. The Department is led by the Secretary who acts as the chief managing officer for the departments group of organizations. In Portugal, the department in charge of health policy is the Ministry of Health.

It also manages the National Health Service. The ministry gets assisted by five local health administrations. They are responsible for implementing the objectives of the policy for National Health. Health Care Personnel and Facilities: Comparison between U.S. and Portugal Health care in the U.S is administered by physicians. The physicians in United States refers to those trained under the U.S medical education system, and the international medical graduates who have to progressively go through the highlighted steps to get a license to practice medicine in a state.

In Portugal, by 1990 there were 2.9 physicians per 1,000 people, a rate higher than that found in most Western Europe countries. However, most medical employees are situated in urban areas. Access and Inequality Issues: Comparison between U.S. and Portugal In the U.S, the underrepresented minorities are less likely to have access to good health care. This is due to inequalities between the white and blacks that still exist in health care. A study also shows that young people at the age of 19-24 years are more likely to be uninsured and this may make healthcare (Murray 2013).

In Portugal, a non-citizen of the European Union cannot use the public health system unless you are an employee and you are making payment towards social security. According to Castro is that one encounters some level of racism in the local health centre. The director expressly restricts his administrative staff to speak in English; the reason being that they are in Portugal and hence should speak Portuguese (Castro 2009). References Castro, J. (August 10, 2009). “Health Care in Portugal”.

Retrieved from http://www.expatforum.com/articles/health/health-care-in-portugal.html. Frayer, L. (April 13, 2012). “Tough Cuts In Portugal May Be Exacting High Toll”. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/2012/04/13/150580358/tough-cuts-in-portugal-may-be- exacting-high-toll. Kaiser, Family Foundation (July 19, 2013). “Health Insurance Cost Statistics”. Retrieved from http://www.statisticbrain.com/health-insurance-cost-statistics/ Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. Retrieved 3 February 2012.

Murray, C. et al (July 10, 2013). "The State of US Health, 1990–2010: Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors". Journal of the American Medical Association 310 (6): 591–608. doi:10.1001/jama.2013.13805. PMID 23842577. Retrieved July 11, 2013. WHO (2011). World health statistics 2011. Geneva: World Health Organization. ISBN 978-92- 4-156419-9.