Week 7: Comparison of Countries
Course Content
Assignment 7.1: Health Care Policy Project: Presentation
Discussion 7.1: Health Care Around the World
Directions
After viewing the video Sick Around the World, compare and contrast the U.S. health care system to another countries’ health care systems. How are they similar? How are they different? How successful is each system in keeping patients healthy? How has the structure of this health care system impacted patient mortality rates? Which system is more expensive to operate? What are the positives and negatives of each?
Post your original response by the end of Day 3. Then, by the end of Day 6, respond to at least two of your classmates’ posts.
Sample Paper
Week 7: Comparison of Countries
Comparing and Contrasting the USA Healthcare System
In all states, the United States doesn’t have a single and uniform healthcare system. It has multiple plans like Medicare for older people and Medicaid which serves the general purpose. In other countries like Germany, there is a universal health coverage scheme. U.S spends about seventeen per cent of the GDP on healthcare, whereas in Germany its eleven per cent (Butkus et al., 2020). United States has the most expensive and poor performance compared to Germany, with varied results. It performs better in access to health, quality of care, medical practitioners to patient ratio. Just like in the United States, in Germany has levels of responsibilities; there is the central government and the state government (Herwartz et al., 2018). The central government is entrusted with policy formulation, and the state governments make the policy implementation. In the United States, the individual states’ policies and execution are done.
The mortality rate can be divided into different sectors like cancer mortality. In the United States, due to higher costs, there is a slightly higher rate of deaths than in Germany, which has universal health insurance coverage. There is also the maternal mortality more increased in the United States compared to Germany, whereby it does not guarantee access to provider visits; the US has fewer maternity care officers, which leads to a lack of maternity support. United States has the most expensive healthcare due to the partial coverage. In comparison to Germany, which has universal coverage. U.S spends huge amounts of money on health insurance than any other country, but it doesn’t transform in to results (Beyer et al., 2020). The German health care system is better in that it ensures the whole population is insured, which leads to better care, there is also financial security to families. In the United States, it’s more expensive, especially to the poor, where the government provides partial insurance and other costs footed by the patient.
References
Beyer, A., Rehner, L., Hoffmann, W., & van den Berg, N. (2020). Task-Sharing Between Pediatricians and Non-Physician Healthcare Professionals in Outpatient Child Health Care in Germany: Assessment of Need and Acceptance for Concept Development. INQUIRY: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing, 57, 0046958020969299.
Butkus, R., Rapp, K., Cooney, T. G., & Engel, L. S. (2020). Envisioning a better US Health Care System for all: reducing barriers to care and addressing social determinants of health. Annals of internal medicine, 172(2_Supplement), S50-S59.
Emanuel, E. J. (2018). The real cost of the US health care system. Jama, 319(10), 983-985.
Herwartz, H., & Schley, K. (2018). Improving health care service provision by adapting to regional diversity: an efficiency analysis for the case of Germany. Health Policy, 122(3), 293-300.
