Healthcare System has Many Pros and Cons

Despite the documented challenges that the U.S. health care system faces, it also enjoys a number of advantages over other systems around the world.

Choose 2 other countries from around the world and discuss the strengths of the U.S. health care system as compared to these countries from an administrator’s and a third-party payer’s perspectives.

In your answer, be sure to not only discuss each strength, but provide an explanation as to why you believe the United States has this advantage over the other countries you chose.

What determines if a country has good healthcare? The United States healthcare system has faced many challenges on its journey to provide good healthcare that is adequate for both the country and its citizens. Despite the challenges the United States healthcare has faced it has a number of advantages over other healthcare systems around the world. The strengths of the United States healthcare system can be noted in this comparison with healthcare systems in Canada and United Kingdom from an administrator’s and a third-party payer’s perspectives.

Canada healthcare system is thought by many to be free and advantageous over the United States healthcare plan. Although Canada’s healthcare plan has many pros compared to the United States those pros do not make their plan superior. This essay will discuss some of the strengths of the United States healthcare system compared to Canada’s. Canadian Healthcare plan has often been considered free healthcare. Canada’s healthcare, however, is not free.

Canadians do not get billed after using healthcare services, instead Canadians pay for healthcare through the country’s tax system Canada’s healthcare is funded by a “single-payer” system. Coverage is publicly-funded, meaning that the funds come from federal and provincial taxes. Additionally, care is provided by plans created in each province or territory, rather than a single, unified federal health plan.

Canadian government only covers necessary health services (US). This differs from the United States healthcare plans that are mostly ran by private healthcare companies. There are some instances where the government steps in with some safety nets for those who have disabilities, are unemployed, or live at or close to poverty level. Otherwise, Americans take care of their own healthcare without assistance from the government (US).

In the United States third party payers are able to collect more of a profit from citizens due to individually purchased health insurance and administrators are able to run their facilities without a large amount of government intervention. Canadian also have long wait times for healthcare. These wait times stem from many things, but currently here’s about one primary care physician per 1000 people, and the rate of available specialists is similar. From the time it takes to receive a referral by a GP – to receiving treatment – Canadians wait an average of 21.2 weeks to receive treatment from a specialist. MRI procedures could take up to 10.8 weeks. Some argue that the wait times are far too long (Are).

Patients are guaranteed reasonable wait times for urgent needs but can expect to wait longer to see a specialist or have an elective procedure done. Generally, all efforts are made to streamline appointments for life-threatening issues but there can still be some wait time involved (US). The United States has the advantage of shorter wait times. This is due to administrators wanting to continue to receive business from patients and keep their turn around time good. Third party payers want to keep their profit margins high, so they need their facilities to be able to see a large number of patients at a fast pace.

Healthcare in every country is unique and each country’s healthcare system has many pros and cons. It is important to consider healthcare from all players perspectives. The one thing each nations healthcare system has is common is the goal of providing quality health care services to its citizens. Healthy happy citizens are able to live long productive lives which creates a stable society.

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