Daniele on Healthcare

In terms of healthcare there is no prefect recipe in order to create the most effective system all the while satisfying each individual’s specific needs, however some countries come relatively close in balancing each aspect that formulates an effective medical system. The common denominator outlining the success of a health care system in a country is the government’s high involvement in the provision of medical services. The countries with the highest life expectancy, lowest infant mortality rate and broadest access to medical care, tend to be countries with strong and influential government medical provisions. Also, not by coincidence, these same countries have the lowest relative medical cost per capita. Thus the criteria considered to rank health care systems generally consists of the following statistics: child mortality rate, life expectancy, healthcare cost per capita, and healthcare cost as a percentage of GDP per capita.

            Research by the World Bank and the World Health Organization on longevity ranks Japan and Switzerland first with eighty-three years, in second come Canada, Australia, France, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Singapore, Spain and Sweden with eighty-two years. In terms of infant mortality rate under the age of five, Iceland ranks the highest with only two deaths per one thousand, following by Norway, Sweden, Singapore, Finland, Japan and Slovenia with three. Obviously low mortality rates and high life expectancy, represents an efficient health care system.

            Health care spending is an essential element of any industrialized country’s economy; it meets the basic individual and social need for services that bring improved health, greater productivity, and longer lives. Countries such as Japan, Australia, Norway, UK, and Sweden are successful at providing good healthcare based on total health spending. In these countries, unlike the United States, a large share of health care is publicly funded or funded by the government through universal insurance-based or tax financed systems. Research by The Commonwealth Fund, finds the average health care spending per capita in 2011, New Zealand as the lowest with $3,182, then Japan, UK, Australia, Sweden, France, Germany, Denmark, and Canada all follow with less than $5,000. For example public spending on healthcare in Norway and the U.K is 84%, lessening the private and out of pocket spending for the people, creating a much more accommodating and desirable healthcare system. Furthermore, healthcare spending as of percentage of GDP in 2011, is significantly lower in these same countries Australia with 8.9%, Norway, UK, Sweden, Japan, succeed with less that 10% than the country with the highest spending. Ultimately more spending doesn’t necessarily equate to a better healthcare system: contrarily, a more efficient structure occurs when the government provides for the majority of healthcare services.