Personal financial planning - Essay Example

While most countries in the world utilize a single system for managing the healthcare of its citizens, the United s currently combines elementsfrom these different health care systems. Health care systems can be classified based on how they mix and match different degrees of public and private control over the delivery of health care and payment for that care. Most of the world’s poorest countries have an Out-of-Pocket healthcare system in which patients do not have insurance and pay for medical expenses in cash or in kind.

There are currently 50 million Americans without insurance that are forced to pay for medical services out of pocket when illness forces them to see a doctor (Kaiser Commission 1). Many countries use the Bismarck System that combines insurance with private health care providers. Most Americans pay for and received medical services in a manner that resembles the Bismarck System, although many insurance providers in other countries are not operated for profit and cannot discriminate against persons for pre-existing medical conditions.

The Medicare System of healthcare, like the system in Canada, combines private healthcare providers with government payer insurance. While some American healthcare programs combine private providers with a single government payer, these programs are funded through taxes rather than insurance premiums. A few countries have adopted the Beveridge System of healthcare in which the government is both the provider and payer of healthcare. Healthcare for American military veterans utilizes the Beveridge System.

Unlike the healthcare systems in other countries, the American healthcare system combines elements of different systems. It has yet to be determined how long this mixed system will remain viable. Works Cited Kaiser Commission. “Medicaid and the Uninsured.” 2010.