| Healthcare System | United States | Switzerland | Japan |
| Structures | Fragmented health system with different pay systems. The insurance companies work with their primary goal being gaining profits. On the other hand, healthcare needs which they are expected to insure in the first place are always their last priority. The insurance industry regularly practices medical underwriting (Squires & Anderson, 2018). Medical underwriting means that clients with pre-existing medical conditions get systematically rejected. | The health system uses the single payer system. The fact that the single payer system puts values of people first despite the costs incurred is a strong point (Squires & Anderson, 2018).. Issues of healthcare are not just economic issues. For this reason, the role of a government or any other authority that addresses the interests of the society members has to be central in order to create a suitable healthcare system. | Has a universal health system. Its primary goal is to serve and protect the citizens, and afterwards it addresses the matters despite of how small or large the resources are. The notion in Japan is that the supposed “free market” tactics can never work in healthcare because its purpose is to exclude people rather than include them (Squires & Anderson, 2018). Market economics’ ‘survival for the fittest’ logic can barely be equated to the social logic that comes with healthcare |
| Expenditures | The fragmented nature of America’s healthcare system means that its healthcare budget is the largest in the world. The total spending on healthcare in the U.S per capita is 9.086 (Squires & Anderson, 2018). This is considerably high than other developed countries | The spending on healthcare per capita is 6.325 (Squires & Anderson, 2018). Although it is higher than that of other European countries, it is much lower than that of the U.S. | The spending on healthcare per capita is 3.173 (Squires & Anderson, 2018). The figure illustrates that Japan has one of the most efficient healthcare systems in the world. |
| Allocation of Resources | A large chunk of the U.S’s health budget goes towards purchasing medicine and paying workers. The country does not limit the prices that can be set on drugs hence the cost of medications is very high. | Sweden’s healthcare budget is largely dedicated towards community health care programs and preventive programs to ensure better health outcomes. | Japan’s health budget is dedicated towards research activities and upgrading the health infrastructure to deal with new challenges ( Miszczyńska, 2018) . It enables the country to take a preventive approach towards healthcare. |
| Quality Indicators | The quality indicators include rate of infant mortality and average life expectancy ( Miszczyńska, 2018) . The United States is performing poorly in both regards | The country uses similar measure as the U.S and is performing better. | Japan has one the highest life expectancy rates in the world hence indicating the robustness of its health system. |
| Outcomes | Despite country’s well-developed economy, it is a fact that the American healthcare system is ranked well below those of other industrialist nations. In general, this analysis is a real eye opener. The ubiquitous and effective healthcare system catering for everyone is possible in the U.S. at lower costs, and much better outcomes can be achieved ( Reibling et al., 2019) . The analysis gives an enlightening view of the failing healthcare system that exists in America. There are many contradictions within America’s healthcare system. Not everyone can get exemplary health care services in the U.S. America continues to sustain a costly and illogical healthcare system unlike many other industrialized nations that have already introduced universal healthcare. | The healthcare system in Switzerland cost a lot less per capita than the expenses encountered by the U.S., and still has much healthier people. What is astonishing is the fact that in Germany, no one ever goes bankrupt because of healthcare expenses, and citizens never lose their health insurance just because they lost their jobs ( Reibling et al., 2019) . In all aspects, all the Swiss healthcare system is superior to the American healthcare system. | Japan’s healthcare system is also cheaper than that of the U.S and outcomes are much better. People have wide access to healthcare and the health system is constantly adapting to the needs of the population. |
References
Reibling, N., Ariaans, M., & Wendt, C. (2019). Worlds of healthcare: a healthcare system typology of OECD countries. Health Policy , 123 (7), 611-620.
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Miszczyńska, K. M. (2018). Comparative Analysis of the Key Factors Influencing Healthcare Systems of OECD Countries. e-Finanse , 14 (1), 69-78.
Squires, D & Anderson, C. (2018). U.S. Health Care from a Global Perspective. Common wealth Fund. https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2015/oct/us-health-care-global-perspective
