Health Care Around the World

Although there are approximately 200 countries in the world, all that use a form of healthcare fall under one of four basic systems of health care, or a similar variation. The U.S. however has adopted elements of each of them creating the “fragmented” system of health care we have today. While some countries have set up systems where everyone is covered in some way or another, ours cares to select people while being the most expensive of all of them. A big issue that has been about for a while in America is what to do about our healthcare plan, from coverage to cost. By looking at other health care plans in use today by other countries, we may be able to find something to fit our needs.

The United Kingdom uses a system referred to as “socialized medicine,” where the government both pays and provides for health care. This means the cost is taken in form af taxes leaving the consumers with no bills or co-payments in most cases. Patients must go through their general practitioner before seeing in more specialized doctor. The system provides health care to everyone but it does have its cons. Though they are currently working on it, this system leaves few choices and a wait for most procedures. Compared to the U.S., the U.K. has managed to cover all of its population while spending less money.

Japan uses a system called “social insurance.” In this system everyone is required to have health insurance. Payments are made through their work, or through community based plans. The average pay for a family is approximately $280 a month, with employers paying more than half. While Japan is thought to be spending “too little” on health coverage, one problem is in hospitals, because people have no gatekeepers, they go to the doctor for anything.

Taiwan uses a plan by called the “national health care plan.” This plan is similar to the previous counties plans because everyone is covered. The difference is that there is only one government run issuer. The average family will pay around $650 a year. Those with jobs will pay jointly with employers and others pay flat rates. Veterans and the poor are fully covered by the government. Taiwan’s health care system is the lowest in the world due to technology and its single insurer plan. Similar to Japan, Taiwan is not taking enough money to cover the medical care that it provides. Also, due to politics, changing the plan is hard to do because of the need of its parliament.

After viewing different systems used in other countries I think the most alarming thing to me was how much less money is spent in each country while still allowing all citizens to be covered. I think that it shows how efficient these systems really are. While the U.S. is much larger, and more populated than the majority of these countries, I don’t see why we couldn’t come up with health care system similar to these that could work. I do believe minor tweaks will be needed to be made in order to suit the majority of America’s preference.
In my opinion I believe something similar to “universal” healthcare is achievable in the near future. America is about freedom and choice, implementing these things with coverage for every citizen in the United States is what we really need.

Stimulus or not?

In Steve Benen's post WHEN THE STIMULUS MEETS THE ANTI-STIMULUS on Washington Monthly, he expressed his ideas why our nation isn’t moving forward from recession, and “booming”.  Benen claims that the government stimulus package prevented a depression, but there was no “boom”. This is said to be because actions of the stimulus package were counteracted by cuts by state and local government spending. These state and local level cuts overpowered federal stimulus and government spending actually slowed after the recession hit. This is also why available jobs are becoming increasingly scarce. The private sector keeps hiring new workers, while the larger job market is cut back as state and local governments lay off thousands of Americans. Benen says this is how Republicans try to heal our economy, which will not work. His idea of a solution is a policy that Congress could pass to redirect resources to the states so that they don’t have to scale back so harshly.

I would have to agree that his idea to boost the economy, in theory, does make sense. Our states are desperately cutting back. My school district alone is cutting back 300 jobs, and budgets are being severely reduced. What will this do for us? Unemployment on the rise will do no justice to our economy. A policy that gave states and local governments resources to increase spending and “boom” the local economy would benefit more greatly, than that of what is currently being done. Obviously we aren’t moving forward, something new needs to be done. Benen seems to be a credible political blogger, he has a very extensive background in politics, with a degree in political science, intern time in Bill Clintons office at the Whitehouse, and the title of “One of the Top 50 most influential political commentators in the United States”. I would believe that he’s experienced, and seems to know what he’s talking about.