HA415 Unit 7 Discussion Post 2 and 3

On two different paragraph Give your personal opinion to Casie Woodruff and  Havilah Dieterle 

 Havilah Dieterle 

In the united states, we spend more money per capita on healthcare than any other industrialized nation. yet, many of our public health outcomes measure significantly worse than these other countries. Why? Does it matter? would you be better served to live and receiving your healthcare services in another country?

The United States spends more money per capita on healthcare than any other industrialized nation, more than $3.2 trillion a year on healthcare, with estimates to spend $49 trillion over the next decade.” (U.S. Senate Sanders.) The public health outcomes are significantly worse than other 32 industrialized nations, this is because they have successfully implemented universal healthcare models that provide accessible government ran public health programs. 

Universal healthcare models make a huge impact on the success of other countries and their healthcare. The United States does little to control the prices of healthcare costs in relation to services and prescription drug prices, while other countries “keep hospitals on a fixed budget to control costs to reimburse doctors at a fee-for-service rate.” (The Balance) In addition, in a model with Government taking responsibility for universal healthcare, the cost of prescription drugs are kept down because their government officials argue for lower prices. If the United States were to implement a universal healthcare model it would aid in decreasing the costs of prescription drugs by up to $113 billion per year. (U.S. Senate Sanders.) 

Universal healthcare makes a huge difference in accessibility to care and the price of care, in some cases citizens would be better served to live in a country that offers universal healthcare. Those that are uninsured or underinsured within the United States could greatly benefit from the healthcare that they could receive in other countries. 

Citations

U.S. Senate Sanders. (n.d.). Options To Finance Medicare For All[PDF file]. Retrieved September 10, 2019 from https://www.sanders.senate.gov/download/options-to-finance- Medicare-for-all?inline=file

The Balance. (2019, June 25). Why America Is the Only Rich Country Without Universal Health Care. Retrieved from https://www.thebalance.com/universal-health-care-4156211

 

Casie Woodruff 

In the US we spend more money per capita on healthcare than any other industrialized nation. Yet, many of our public health outcomes measure significantly worse than these other countries. Why? Does it matter? Would you be better served living and receiving your healthcare services in another country?

We definitely need to make improvements with our healthcare system. Even though we seem to spend the most on healthcare costs, we definitely don’t have the same outcomes as other countries do. We have the largest per capita healthcare expenditures according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (US $9,024, Germany $5,119, Italy $3,620). The average is only around $3,207. We are way off! The US “spent almost three times on healthcare as the average of other countries”. According to the experts, there are two underlying reasons why the United States spends so much on healthcare: it uses expensive medical technology and prices for healthcare services, and goods are higher than other countries (Etehad & Kim, 2017). And it’s sad to say that we as Americans have shorter life spans than those of 30 other countries (United States, 79.3 years). This is one way that researchers look at how effective our healthcare system really is. The US as a whole has a higher rate of people who are uninsured when it comes to healthcare access. Although no two countries have the exact same healthcare system, many nations on the list—such as Sweden, Japan, and the Netherlands—provide their residents with a universal healthcare insurance plan (Etehad & Kim, 2017). This equals 100% from other countries that actually have healthcare coverage. A lot of governments play a role in creating the funds are this exchange of free healthcare to happen. Unfortunately, “the United States is the only wealthy country without universal coverage”. Back in 2013, there were a large number of individuals who died from preventable diseases.

With healthcare becoming so expensive, many Americans are flying across the world just for healthcare and procedures. This is known as “medical tourism”. This has expanded across the world over the last several years and is estimated to grow “25% over the next decade”. Individuals are traveling thousands of miles just to receive treatment that may not be approved in the US and they may have the opportunity to receive this care quicker if they travel to another country. This has become so popular that employers are offering these medical tourism benefits to their employees. Hospitals overseas can often charge lower prices because their doctors are paid less, and they may not have to carry the same medical malpractice insurance as American doctors (Braverman, 2016). You have to be careful with language barriers, counterfeit medications, and blood that may not have been screened properly. Also, people who are having surgery have to be cautious and think about their recovery. Are you going to be able to fly home safely? What if something happens and you need to file a malpractice suit against one of the providers? Unfortunately, you may not have protection like we do in the United States with HIPAA. If your current insurance won’t cover your trip for treatment, you may have to purchase a separate insurance called “medical complications insurance”. Do your research! You want to make sure you look into the hospitals and make sure they are use to taking care of international patients. It depends on what type of procedure you are having, but you could be in that country for several weeks. The CDC recommends that you not fly for at least 10 days after surgery due to the increased risk of blood clots (Braverman, 2016). From doing research for this discussion, I would personally look at my options here in the United States. You can most likely find affordable treatment instead of planning to go to another country.

Etehad, M. & Kim, K. 18 Jul 2017. Los Angeles Times: The U.S. Spends more on healthcare than any other country—but not with better health outcomes. Retrieved from URL address: https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-healthcare-comparison-20170715-htmlstory.html

Braverman, Beth. 17 Aug 2016. The Fiscal Times: 1.4 Million Americans Will Go Abroad for Medical Care This Year. Should You? Retrieved from URL Address: https://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2016/08/17/14-Million-Americans-Will-Go-Abroad-Medical-Care-Year-Should-You