HCA 255 Topic 5 Discussion 1
Consider health care coverage that other countries provide to their citizens and how much access is provided to their citizens. If these programs of coverage work so well in providing access of care, why do these countries often have additional pay-for-service or private insurance options offered?
Answer:
Why would some countries choose to offer health care coverage and other benefits through a universal system while also providing additional pay-for-service or private insurance options?
Does the U.S. health care system need to change? The debate has raged for decades now as insurance costs increase and people find it harder and harder to afford healthcare coverage. Health experts are able to observe our health care system from all over the world, making comparisons and pointing out flaws in the U.S. system’s current design. Nurses know how much our patients depend on good healthcare coverage, which is why many RNs are advocates for universal health care coverage in the United States. Here’s how some other countries provide coverage to their citizens and what solutions their systems might offer us.<br>
Discover how other countries provide health care coverage and what options they have as well.
Most industrialized countries provide health care coverage and guarantee universal access, even though they’re all very different in the way they go about it. These countries are ranked on quality and access in the World Health Report 2000.
Other countries have managed to extend health care coverage to all of their citizens. But it hasn’t been easy. At the beginning, most countries started out with just a public health plan that covered only basic services and excluded or limited coverage for other services. Over time, they’ve added more benefits, made private insurance plans available and steadily increased access to care.
The United States stands with the outlier countries that provide their citizens with healthcare coverage. This is in obvious contrast to what many other first-world countries and industrialized nations offer. With our current program, millions of American citizens choose to not be covered, while even more are not covered and do not know it. By exploring this topic, we get a better understanding of why transitioning to a universal health care coverage plan will result in overall better health for all American citizens.
In the US, access to health care can be a tough struggle for Americans. So many people are unable to access health care because of costs and fear of losing their job. In other countries, health coverage is considered a right, not a privilege.
If you were to ask yourself how much health care services and coverage a person should receive in a country that is supposed to be the best democracy in the world, you are probably going to answer for every citizen to be covered for everything. This would mean that every citizen should get health care coverage from the government such as Medicare or Medicaid.
Other developed countries in the world spend half of what the United States spends on health care per capita, and some spend much less. Most citizens of these other countries have broad coverage and receive financial protection without paying high out-of-pocket costs. Most Americans are covered by multiple sources of insurance, public and private. We could learn from other countries and develop our own system that works similarly well, with Medicare covering more people, while still offering supplemental insurance coverage (including Medicaid) to those who want it.
In Canada, the government is responsible for providing health care services to the citizens. All legal residents are entitled to health services and coverage is provided equally to those who pay taxes and refugees alike. However, for some Canadians, private medical insurance is still needed due to the limits of their public health care coverage.
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Question:
Consider health care coverage that other countries provide to their citizens and how much access is provided to their citizens. If these programs of coverage work so well in providing access of care, why do these countries often have additional pay-for-service or private insurance options offered?