Healthcare

Healthcare system?

Health provision varies around the world. Almost all wealthy nations provide universal health care (the US is an exception). Health provision is challenging due to the costs required as well as various social, cultural, political and economic conditions.

There isn’t one answer to health care provision, but a number of systems and issues seem to be emerging. This page provides a high level overview.

Inverse care

People with the most means – whose needs for health care are often less – consume the most care, whereas those with the least means and greatest health problems consume the least. Public spending on health services most often benefits the rich more than the poor in high- and low-income countries alike.

Impoverishing care

Wherever people lack social protection and payment for care is largely out-of-pocket at the point of service, they can be confronted with catastrophic expenses. Over 100 million people annually fall into poverty because they have to pay for health care.

Fragmented and fragmenting care

The excessive specialization of health-care providers and the narrow focus of many disease control programs discourage a holistic approach to the individuals and the families they deal with and do not appreciate the need for continuity in care. Health services for poor and marginalized groups are often highly fragmented and severely under-resourced, while development aid often adds to the fragmentation.

Unsafe care

Poor system design that is unable to ensure safety and hygiene standards leads to high rates of hospital-acquired infections, along with medication errors and other avoidable adverse effects that are an underestimated cause of death and ill-health.

Misdirected care

Resource allocation clusters around curative services at great cost, neglecting the potential of primary prevention and health promotion to prevent up to 70% of the disease burden. At the same time, the health sector lacks the expertise to mitigate the adverse effects on health from other sectors and make the most of what these other sectors can contribute to health.

There are numerous ways such a system is provided, for example:

·         Government funded (tax paid) national systems

·         Government funded but user fees to top up (often at point of use)

·         Health insurance systems (funded by governments, citizens, or some mixture)

·         Decentralized, private systems run for profit or not for profit

Different parts of the world have used different means for health care and generally, poorer nations have struggled to provide adequate health care.

 these are some countries have the best or worst healthcare system in the world.