A capable healthcare system offers excellent healthcare to people by enhancing the healthcare outcomes of all citizens. The healthcare sector is a key part of the United States economy as it supports people’s health and well-being. The sector is vital also because of its economic size and implications for the budget.
The current paper describes three differences between the United States healthcare system and the healthcare systems of other developed countries. The paper will also discuss how the differences affect patient and client care.
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Among the developed countries, the U.S. is the only one that lacks a uniform and Universal Health care System for all people. Even though the Affordable Care Act contributed significantly to a focus on universal coverage, millions of Americans still lack health insurance (Nunn et al., 2020). The US healthcare system operates as a separated system that receives funding from households, private programs, and the government (Shi, 2018). Private plans, however, offer the most contribution notwithstanding the funding source. Nearly 90 percent of citizens in the United States have health insurance in which private plans account for about 60 percent of the coverage. The government contributes about 35 percent of the coverage through funding different programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance, and the Veterans care. In turn, this leaves about 30 million people without health insurance who must use their resources to pay for healthcare costs (Nunn et al., 2020). Other developed countries such as Canada and Sweden have universal health insurance coverage operating either as multi-payer, single-payer, or national universal systems that cover all citizens (Boucher & Jordan, 2019). Some developed countries such as Germany and Switzerland use insurance mandate systems that require all citizens to buy health insurance from public or private health plans while forbidding for-profit coverage. Others such as Sweden, Australia, and the UK use hybrid systems where the government offers a standard set of healthcare to all people with alternatives to supplement using private plans.
The presence of Medicare and other plans such as Children health plans, and the Indian Health Services in the US is also another major difference between the US healthcare system and health care models in other developed countries. Models in advanced economies do not require citizens to acquire different plans or to leave private plans and acquire public plans after reaching 65 years old. In turn, this allows healthcare models in developed countries to focus on risk equalization and competition. Models in other advanced countries such as Switzerland pool premiums and divide them between different insurers after considering all the citizens including both the elderly and the young (Boucher & Jordan, 2019). The US model faces the challenge of balancing risk equalization because seniors and other groups are not in the same system (Shi, 2018). Citizens in other advanced economies have the same insurance plans with options for receiving subsidies equally if needed. These models cover all healthcare needs including inpatient care, home visits, and nursing homes through basic care plans that address the needs of all the citizens without the necessity for specific programs for specific groups such as the elderly.
Another difference between the United States’ healthcare system and those found in other developed countries is the cost of healthcare. Nearly all costs related to healthcare in the United States are higher than in other countries. The high costs emerge mainly due to high drug prices, administrative overheads, and bureaucratic complexities (Nunn et al., 2020). Generally, the healthcare expenditure in the United States is more than 17 percent of the GDP compared to global averages ranging from about 10 percent to 12 percent. The United Kingdom and Germany, for instance, spend 9.6 percent and 11.2 percent of their GDPs in healthcare respectively (Nunn et al., 2020)). Compared to other advanced economies, people in the US incur high health-care prices for different health care services such as prescription drugs, diagnostic tests, and surgical procedures (Nunn et al., 2020). The high costs of these services contribute to the substantial healthcare expenditure in the US compared to expenditure in other advanced economies.
Even though the US spends a substantial amount of resources in the healthcare sector, the healthcare outcomes including patient and client care fail to benefit. For instance, life expectancy in the US is about 78.8 years, which is lower than in most developed countries. Additionally, infant mortality in the U.S. is still higher at about 5.9 deaths per 1,000 births (Boucher & Jordan, 2019). Moreover, universal models cater to individualized plans that cover all citizens irrespective of their life situations, which supports care. Patients and clients in the US, however, face fewer wait times for care than those in other developed countries, especially for elective care. Providers in the US also receive higher salaries, which contributes to fewer high pay strikes that occur in other advanced economies. In turn, this reduces care delivery disruptions.
References
Boucher, D., & Jordan, D. W. (2019). US healthcare International Comparisons: What are we Comparing? International Journal of Healthcare Policy , 1 (1), 89. https://doi.org/10.1504/ijhp.2019.10023127
Nunn, R., Parsons, J., & Shambaugh, J. (2020, March 10). A Dozen Facts about the Economics of the US Health-Care System . Brookings; the Brookings Institution. https://www.brookings.edu/research/a-dozen-facts-about-the-economics-of-the-u-s- health-care-system/
Shi, L. (2018). Essentials of the U.S. Health Care System . [VitalSource Bookshelf]. Retrieved from https://online.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781284174144/
