The Health Care System Of The United States - 1218 Words

Currently, The United States sits as the thirty-sixth best nation at delivering effective healthcare, and yet the US does so at over $8,200 per capita, more than two and half times the OECD average. This creates and incredibly paradoxical circumstance where â€Å"the most powerful, most innovative, and richest country [on] the plant† delivers on average one of the worst healthcare results among developed countries (Reid 28). Several countries including Canada, England, the Netherlands, France, and Germany have developed systems that are much more comprehensive and much cheaper compared to the United States. However, American exceptionalism, the reluctance to think that we can learn from other nations, has impeded our ability to learn from†¦show more content†¦For the working class under sixty-five the US uses a Bismarck system where there are private insurances that individuals purchase to cover care (if they can purchase it). For the over sixty-five population the go vernment covers most of the cost of healthcare thus a national health insurance model is followed. For Native Americans and military veterans the US uses the Beveridge system where providers are public and government owned and individuals do not receive any bills of any kind. Lastly, for the uninsured (currently about twenty-three million) individuals are forced to buy for all services out of pocket and thus cause significant financial burden and in many cases bankruptcy (Reid 20). Ultimately, with these varying methods combined with the countless payers present in the multi-payer system has crated incredible complexity that needs to be lessened in order to curb rising medical cost. To the immediate north of the United States lies a country who’s national health system is comprehensive for all medically necessary and psychiatric services its citizens require (Reid 127). The Canadian Healthcare system originated in the late 1940s when Saskatchewan Premier Tommy Douglas institu ted such a system within the providence. As it would turn out the experiment would be a total success with Saskatchewan and with increased public pressure for the institution of Medicare for all across the country the federal government