Health Care Systems and the Elderly

Introduction

Health care system is a vital sector in both developed and developing countries. The effectiveness of health care systems counts a lot especially when the health of individuals is concerned. Most countries allocate high amounts of funds in order to ensure their health care system bestow quality health services to their citizens. This paper pays high attention to the review of how the health care system of America stacks up with programs in other developed countries such as Germany, Great Britain, and Canada. The paper also includes an evaluation of whether the current American Medicare plan is comprehensive, responsive and solvent enough in meeting the health needs of elderly.

How America`s health care system stacks up with programs in Canada, Great Britain and Germany

The American health care system stacks up with that of other developed countries in numerous ways. First, U.S spends high amounts of money for its health care system. For example, in 2011, the average spending on health care (both insurance and out-of-pocket costs) per individual was $8,508 (Bartlett, 2014). This amount is almost twice the amount that Canada and Germany spent on the same year ($4,522 and $4,495 respectively). This means that if America could adopt the health care system that was being used in Canada or Germany during that year, almost $ 4,000 could have been saved or given to each American to spend on whatever means he or she would want.

Secondly, its health care system is complicated and is characterized by the highest administrative costs. That is; the Americans pay the doctors and other health professionals high salaries compared to other developed countries. For example, an American doctor earns an average of approximately $186,582 while in Canada; the same doctor makes $95,585 (Bartlett, 2014). This is among the reasons that make Americans pay high amounts for their health care compared to other countries. Thirdly, U.S has numerous and different insurance companies that have different plans, and numerous overlapping public programs such as state plans, Medicaid, and Medicare. This means that most American doctors consume much time on paperwork rather than delivering health services thus making their services to be poor compared to Canada or Germany.

The current Medicare plan and the aging population

The current Medicare plan is maximally responsive, comprehensive and solvent enough in meeting the health needs of seniors. This Medicare plan outlines that seniors would be given maximum out of pocket protection as opposed to the traditional one. The traditional one exposed most seniors to unexpected high medical costs when they fell sick. Some seniors were even being forced to seek private supplementary plans (Congressional Budget Office Report, 2011). This was because private supplementary plans were making their medical costs be predictable, and also covered the costs that were not being covered by the traditional Medicare. Maximum out of pocket protection of seniors is made possible by the adoption of both unified-deductibles and cost-sharing with an out of pocket maximum (Lieberman-Coburn Proposal, 2011).

Conclusion

It is, therefore, evident that the American health care system stacks up with the heath care programs in other developed countries. This is evident through the high amounts of money that America spends on health care, poor delivery of health services and high administration costs. Moreover, the current Medicare plan is maximally responsive to the health needs of the seniors.

References

Bartlett, B., (2014). How America’s Health System Stacks Up Against Other Developed Countries, the fiscal times. Retrieved from, http://finance.yahoo.com/news/america-health-system-stacks-against-091500353.html

Congressional Budget Office Report, (2011). “Reducing the Deficit: Spending and Revenue Options.” Retrieved from, http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/120xx/doc12085/03-10-ReducingTheDeficit.pdf

Lieberman-Coburn Proposal, (2011). A Bipartisan Plan to Save Medicare. Retrieved from, http://coburn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?a=Files.Serve&File_id=1ea8e116-6d15-46ba-b2e0-731258583305