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Featured Discussion
How can nations improve the quality of healthcare while reducing costs?
Email your opinions to Editor-in-Chief Fatima Yousuf at [email protected]
AUSTRALIA - Every citizen is entitled to public coverage. The government funds pharmaceuticals through the Pharmaceuticals Benefits Scheme and regulates and supports access to private health insurance. In 1984, Medicare was introduced to help with the cost of health and hospital services. The government has established 31 Primary Health Networks to help improve the efficacy of medical services and ensure that patients receive the best care (Department of Health 2015c).
Working collaboratively on reducing cost and improved quality is a key policy challenge. The WHO has identified the health provisions in many areas that are very cost effective.
FRANCE - A majority of healthcare bills are taken care of by the government via a public French healthcare insurance scheme. Public coverage is guaranteed to all. The government adopted a new healthcare system called the Protection Universelle Maladie (PUMA) in 2016. It serves to guarantee that everyone who works or lives in France will have access to the healthcare. Among 191 member countries surveyed, France was ranked first in the WHO report evaluating healthcare systems (2000).
UNITED KINGDOM - The National Health Service is a government-sponsored universal healthcare system. According to the Commonwealth Fund, the UK's healthcare system is one of the most efficient. The government covers 85% of healthcare expenditures. There are also several regulatory bodies monitoring the quality of health services, including the Care Quality Commission (2008). The UK ranked first on the efficiency index as per the said Commonwealth Fund report. . It also performed well on the quality and the access-to-care index.
GERMANY - Germany uses a social insurance model to pay for the healthcare. The Öffentlicher Gesundheitsdienst (ÖGD) refers to the German public health services, which are delivered by the hundreds of public health offices across Germany. Germany has no gatekeeping system, which is to say that patients are ‘free to select a sickness-fund-affiliated doctor of their choice." Germany spends half as much on health, more doctors per 1,000 people, and longer life expectancies than those of the U.S.