American Health Care System

 

The health care policy of a nation is a very important aspect of a nation which should be one of the major priorities of the nation. However, regardless of how important a health policy is in a country, the way it is run differs from one nation to another. One can define a health care policy as a policy given to achieve a functioning health care system. However, health care policies are also decisions, plans, and actions which are undertaken to achieve specific health care goals within a society. An excellent health policy can achieve so many things which may include creating a future which will help in the establishment of targets and points of references for different term (“Journal of Healthcare Communications”). There are four major types of health care system. Firstly, we have Beveridge Model. In this system, majority of the hospitals workers and doctors work for the government. Nevertheless, they still have the private physicians available. Secondly, we have Bismarck Model, this is a national single-payer health care system. This system looks like to the United States(U.S.) system because employers provides their employees insurance but unlike the U.S. in this system, everyone must be compensated. Thirdly, we have National Health Insurance Model, this system offers a third type of national single-payer health care system. These types of healthcare systems are very popular in Asian countries and the National Health Insurance Model put together some of both Beveridge and Bismarck. Finally, there is the private insurance system. In this system, individuals are either covered by their employers, covered by a private policy the policyholder purchases themselves or they go without coverage at all (Harveston, et al.).

However, in this paper we will only be comparing two countries who uses two of these major types of health care. We will be comparing Sweden who uses the Beveridge model and United States who uses the private insurance system. The results gotten from the health care in these countries are quite surprising given that U.S. has a larger GDP for health care than Sweden, still Sweden is still able to provide full health insurance for citizens. This paper will also aim to compare the differences between the health care policies of these two countries, how they successfully apply the policies and what they can get from one another to help them achieve a better healthcare system for the citizens.

The U.S. has a very high scientific research standard, which has helped the U.S. health system have one of the best medical treatment techniques around the world today. This high standard as even led foreigners to come to the U.S. for medication from all over the world (“Pocketsense.Com”). However, it is quite sad that the United States health care system does not cover all its citizens. Most people must be registered in a program or another, so they can have reduced health bill. Some are fortunate and can get insured under the company they work for while others will have to pay out of pocket. The U.S. has two major types of healthcare insurance system. An article ballotpedia said “The nation uses a mixed system of public and private insurance. In United States, there are two major health care programs. These programs are Medicaid and Medicare. Medicaid are for low-income people and individuals with disabilities while Medicare are for people 65 or older or younger people with certain disabilities or kidney disease. Also, about 48 percent of Americans are enrolled in a private health insurance through their employer. While the remaining 52 percent remainder purchase private insurance from personal insurance company or they get insured through a different community funded program, such as the military's TRICARE” (“Ballotpedia 2018”, par. 3 ). These programs help create stability in the way the health care system in U.S. is. Although Medicaid was created as a program for low-income citizens, there is still so many citizens out there that are still uninsured.

This is quite unfortunate that with how developed U.S. is and the improvement they have tried to make to their health care system, some people never get to visit the hospital throughout their whole life since they are unable to pay medical bills. A single doctor’s visit can lead to so many financial crisis therefore, some people are unable to get optimal care because they are not able to afford a good insurance or doctor. Thus, they are driven to either pay coinsurance or make a component which only leads to more financial crisis. Nevertheless, some people are still able to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in premiums, which are mostly made through their workplace donations. Some of these contributions don’t include prescriptions which are sometimes expensive. (Newkirk, par.2)

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