PBS’S Healthcare: America vs. the World was interesting and enlightening to watch. It gave a glimpse into the healthcare system of the US vs. other countries and shed light on the many problems and solutions that can evolve a healthcare system. Countries in comparison to the US included the UK, Switzerland, Australia, and Canada.
The film begins in the US and brings attention to how America has the most expensive, yet least effective healthcare system. There is no universal coverage option as in some other countries, tying health insurance to employment most times, or making buying health insure extremely expensive. These conditions have been exacerbated during COVID. The film showcases residents in Houston,Texas and how widespread the effect of those who are insured vs. uninsured can ensue tragedy. The highlight that black Americans in Houston have a life expectancy of 20 years earlier than their non minority counterparts is especially tragic. The phenomenon of lower health equity in marginalized communities hit home as being from Robeson County, which is the poorest and most minority filled county in the state of North Carolina, I have seen how much higher health disparities can be and how many are unable to seek treatment due to high costs and no insurance.
The film then highlights the healthcare system of the UK in which the government is the single payer of healthcare through taxes that residents pay. In comparison to the US, not only does this create a universal coverage through the NHS, but statistics were also shown that UK citizens die proportionately less due to preventable diseases than US residents. However, no system is perfect and some issues with the NHS presents as many residents waiting for longer periods of time if they incur non life threatening situations, most often chronic pains. However, this system still spends a significant amount less the the US while having everyone covered.
In continuing the tour, the film highlights Switzerland. In this healthcare system, all residents must have healthcare. However, they are presented with choices. Some of these choices can be costly, as indicated by a resident in the film who is a school teacher, however, the government still mandates prices and certain basic care coverages that the insurances entities must have available.
Moving on to Australia, I found this to be one of the most interesting parts of the film. Australia features a layered healthcare system in that there is a universal public healthcare system, or the option to buy into a private healthcare system. As the film explains, this is done to create a balance of support, and to take some pressure off of the public system to handle certain medical treatments. The tricky part about this style of healthcare is that is must maintain balance for it to remain cost effective. However it seems that younger people are beginning to elect for the public healthcare and tilting the scale where there are also more older people on this side, which can drive up healthcare costs. Another point is the allure of having private healthcare. As one interview explains that someone may be more attracted to the amenities offered and timeliness of private healthcare that the public healthcare system.
Finally, in the last stop of the tour, the film highlights Canada with its taxpayer universal healthcare. Points that I found especially interesting was the fact that because Canada does not invest inits own vaccine production, there were still many residents on a waiting list for a COVID vaccine, however, still significantly fewer people died from COVID than the US. It also showed the nurses springing into followup action and highlighting that one could be fined for traveling during quarantine period which shows the seriousness by which they handled the pandemic.
I enjoyed watching this films and learning about different solution implementations that could potentially benefit the US. The film highlights the political structure of the US and how it is hard to achieve universal healthcare due to political factors. However, it also shows the benefit if we raise the income levels for ACA to cover more people, and expand Medicaid across all sets, which would at least get is to about 95% insured people. This is definitely a conversation with visiting in achieving health equity across the US.