Question: A Multi-National Analysis of Healthcare Strategies
Access to quality healthcare is a major social issue in the United States and around the world. In fact, healthcare reform and access to affordable health insurance is a hotly debated political issue. Many advocates of healthcare reform point to the high level of spending on healthcare in the United Sates and the relatively poor health outcomes in the U.S. as compared to other countries. In 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) passed, and was later upheld by the Supreme Court. While this controversial policy greatly decreased the number of U.S. citizens without health insurance, the United States still stands more or less alone among wealthy industrialized democracies in this approach to healthcare. For this discussion, you will take an in-depth look at access to healthcare as a social problem by comparing the U.S. healthcare system to another country of your choice.
For this discussion review each of the following resources:
- Poor and Uninsured
- Key Facts about the Uninsured
- Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: How the Performance of the U.S. Health Care System Compares Internationally
- Here's a Map of the Countries that Provide Universal Health Care
- Recommended: U.S. Health Care from a Global Perspective: Spending, Use of Services, Prices, and Health in 13 Countries
Based on these resources, please address each of the following:
- In general, who comprises the uninsured population in the United States? Since the passage of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, what are the most common reasons that people still lack health insurance?
- Describe how healthcare spending in the U.S. compares to other countries. Describe how healthcare outcomes in the U.S. compare to other countries. Based on the resources you reviewed, are healthcare spending and health outcomes related to one another? In other words, does spending more on health care lead to better health outcomes (i.e. a healthier population) and vice versa?
- What is universal health care? Describe the healthcare system in at least one country that guarantees universal health coverage to all of its citizens (you can find a list of such countries in the resources provided).
- How does a universal health care system compare to the system currently in place in the U.S.? In your informed opinion, why is the U.S. one of the only wealthy industrialized democracies that does not have university healthcare coverage?
- According to the Commonwealth Fund reports, how is the performance of the United States' healthcare system related to equity? Which social groups have the least access to quality healthcare? Why?
- For this discussion you will continue to explore the issues related to health care by looking at how various aspects of health care in the U.S. compare to those in other countries. Access to quality health care is a major social issue that can have huge implications for the quality of life for individuals and entire communities.
Can inequality make us sick? This video is a trailer for a PBS special that explains the many ways in which this can happen.
UNNATURAL CAUSES - Trailer
Support your claims with examples from required material(s) and/or other scholarly resources, and properly cite any references.