Healthcare Around the World

Introduction

Healthcare is one of the critical issues addressed by sovereign governments across the globe.

Many nations have established the best healthcare systems in order to support the needs of their patients. The concept of universal health care has emerged in different countries.

Universal health care is a term referring to a nation’s ability to offer adequate medical support to all its citizens (Lawal et al., 2014). Some countries such as Germany, Australia, and Canada have designed superior systems to ensure quality health care is available to every citizen.

This presentation examines the healthcare systems implemented in different countries such as China, Sweden, Canada, and the United States.

This analysis will present unique insights that can be used to improve the quality of health services available to more populations.

Healthcare Systems: Canada

The health care system of Canada is very advanced (Canadian health care, 2016). The government funds the country’s insurance program. The program is supported by specific guidelines provided by the federal government. Every citizen qualifies for medical treatments and preventative care (Canadian health care, 2016).

Canadians have access to dental surgery, hospital care, and medical support. The citizens qualify automatically for health support and coverage.

However, some analysts have argued that the healthcare system is inefficient. These critics have suggested that privatization can address the current problem. However, the move might result in disparities in healthcare delivery.

The government promotes specific practices such as meaningful use and health informatics. Meaningful use focuses on the continued implementation of medical technologies to improve the quality of health services available to more patients (Lawal et al., 2014). Health informatics is the use of modern technologies to support the needs of patients.

Healthcare Systems: Sweden

Unlike in Canada, healthcare is devolved in this nation. Municipal and county governments are allowed to promote new health initiatives and practices.

County councils are empowered to offer dental support to individuals below 20 years (Health care in Sweden, 2016).

The central government uses the Health and Medical Service Act to regulate the roles of different municipalities and county councils. Municipalities offer home care to the elderly.

They monitor and treat various chronic diseases. International cooperation is embraced to improve the quality of medical care. This is the case because the country belongs to the European Union.

The EU promotes the use of evidence-based practices. Such practices embrace the use of scientifically-proven ideas to improve the quality of care.

Patient safety and advocacy are taken seriously to ensure more people receive quality care.

In this country, life-long learning and the use of multidisciplinary teams are encouraged to improve the quality of health care.

Lifelong learning is a practice embraced by nurse practitioners (NPs) in an attempt to widen their competencies (Health care in Sweden, 2016).

Training focuses on the best competencies that can support the needs of many citizens. For example, caregivers are guided to embrace the use of the meta-paradigms of nursing.

Meta-paradigms of nursing include the major areas used by caregivers to develop the best healthcare models.

These include health, nursing, person, and environment (Lawal et al., 2014).

Healthcare Systems: China

The healthcare system of China is totally different from that of Sweden. The politics of China dictate the nature of the nation’s healthcare system.

Healthcare in the country is mainly regulated by the government through the Ministry of Health.

The ministry monitors the performance of different agencies and private healthcare providers.

Recently, the government has initiated new health promotion reforms such as insurance cover, the New Rural Cooperative Medical System (NRCMS), and the Healthy China 2020 in an attempt to improve the quality of services (Altman, 2015).

Health promotion refers to the use of powerful strategies to ensure better services are available to more citizens.

Healthcare Delivery System Appropriate for the United States

The healthcare system of the United States is complex and non-universal.

The country has both private-sector and government-owned healthcare institutions that provide care to different patients. The country’s Medicaid, Medicare, and the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) programs provide around 60 percent of healthcare.

The government provides insurance for its public workers. Healthy policy is used influenced by the government. Health policy is a legislation aimed at supporting the medical needs of different people (Packer-Tursman, 2015).

A better healthcare delivery system can play a positive role towards supporting the health needs of many citizens.

Canada’s healthcare system can be implemented in the United States to improve the outcomes of more citizens.

The Canadian health care system can be replicated in such a way that the government will provide insurance cover to all citizens.

The federal government will ensure every citizen has access to medical care, dental surgery, and health information.

Every citizen will be able to receive quality and timely care.

The country’s healthcare programs should receive extra funds in order to ensure quality services are available to every citizen.

Critical thinking can be used to make appropriate decisions and address specific problems affecting the welfare of more patients.

Sources of Finance for Healthcare

Canada

In Canada, health care is funded by the federal and provincial governments (Packer-Tursman, 2015).

The finances are obtained from corporate and personal taxes. The government can obtain finances from lotteries to support the health outcomes of its citizens.

Sweden

Health funding is realized through taxation. The government collects taxes and uses the finances to support health care delivery.

Around 70 percent of healthcare funding in the country is obtained from taxation. The patient is supposed to pay a small fee for consultation or examination.

China

Most of the health programs are funded by private companies. Patients pay for a wide range of health services.

Many hospitals are funded by the central government. Local systems are also considered in an attempt to improve the quality of healthcare.

Financing the U.S. Healthcare System

Costs of Defensive Medicine

Studies indicate that the costs of defensive medicine in the country have increased significantly.

This term refers to “the process through which physicians order procedures in an attempt to protect themselves from liabilities rather than benefiting their clients” (Rothberg et al., 2014, p. 1867).

This practice has been observed to consume over 46 billion dollars every year.

The malpractice affects the health outcomes of more people in the country.

Public and Private Health Insurance

Spending on health insurance has increased sharply in the country.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, private insurance accounts for 30 percent of the total costs (Packer-Tursman, 2015).

Medicaid accounts for 6 percent while Medicare consumes 14 percent of the total costs.

Spending on private insurance is projected to increase significantly by the year 2023 (see Fig 1).

Public and private spending
Fig 1: Public and private spending (insurance). Source: The Kaiser Family Foundation

The U.S. is associated with a huge healthcare budget. For instance, health spending in the country stood at 3 trillion dollars in 2014 (Altman, 2015).

This was a growth of 5.3 percent from the previous year (Altman, 2015). Experts believe that medical expenditures will increase due to the country’s Medicaid and Medicare programs.

Unfortunately, the health outcomes of many people have not been promising. The population has been spending more funds on medicines, chronic diseases, and health consultations.

Despite such medical expenditures, the quality of available services still remains questionable.

Health experts in the country believe that the lean management approach can be used to reduce these expenses.

The lean approach is usually used in healthcare to reduce waits (or wastes) thus maximizing patients’ outcomes

Healthcare Administration: Bearing the Costs

The costs of healthcare services in the United States have increased significantly.

Hospital care refers to the services and support availed in different institutions. This kind of care accounts for over 971.8 billion dollars.

The total expenditure for dental health services have been increasing steadily. From 2014, the government has been spending over 110 billion US dollars on health. Most of the funds required for dental services are provided through private insurance (Altman, 2015).

The other area that consumes more finances is home health care.

This kind of care is availed to the sick, disabled, and elderly members of the community.

Home care consumes over 80 billion dollars. The amount is expected to rise sharply by the year 2020.

Household spending has continued to grow in this country. More families are spending a lot of money to get quality health services.

Sixty-four percent of health costs are financed by the government. This is achieved through programs such as Medicaid, VHA, and Medicare. The other costs are paid by citizens and employers in the country.

References

Altman, D. (2015). Public vs. private health insurance on controlling spending. The Wall Street Journal.

Canadian health care. (2016).

Health care in Sweden. (2016).

Lawal, A., Rotter, T., Kinsman, L., Sari, N., Harrison, L., Kutz, M.,…Flynn, R. (2014). Lean management in health care: definition, concepts, methodology and effects reported. Systematic Reviews, 3(1), 103-121.

Packer-Tursman, J. (2015). The defensive medicine balancing act. Medical Economics. Web.

Rothberg, M., Class, J., Bishop, T., Friderici, J., Kleppel, R., & Lindenauer, P. (2014). The cost of defensive medicine on three hospital medicine services. JAMA, 174(11), 1867-1868.

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