Healthcare: America vs. the World by PBS explores Healthcare in America compared to other countries. While America spends twice as much on healthcare than other higher income countries, our healthcare system has many flaws compared to other countries, preventing Americans from receiving the healthcare that they deserve. As stated in the video, America is “the most expensive, least effective health care system in the modern world. “ The lack of health insurance and cost of medical care is a barrier for many Americans. The video introduced us to a certified nursing assistant that enjoyed helping her patients but was unable to afford healthcare for herself because of lack of health insurance. She eventually lost her job due to complications from breast cancer. Only after her diagnosis was she able to receive insurance to cover treatment. Like many Americans she was forced to skip preventable care due to high cost of healthcare and lack of health insurance.
Citizens of the United Kingdom are covered by National Health Service (NHS). The NHS is funded by taxpayers. Interestingly, the NHS spends less than half of what we spend in the US and ensures everyone receives coverage for healthcare. We are introduced to a little boy named Liam whose family depends on the NHS for his care. His parents admit that without coverage from the NHS they would be bankrupt and would have lost their son due to his need for constant medical care and their inability to afford it. Switzerland has achieved universal coverage for healthcare as well. Much like the US, it is market driven but everyone is covered. Healthcare is viewed as a right for everyone.
Australia has a hybrid system. Australians have access to both public and private health insurance. Public insurance is known as Medicare. Some people chose to pay for private insurance to avoid waitlist and chose the hospital and doctor in which they receive care. The health outcomes for both systems are good. Australians are healthier than Americans, live longer, and do not die from preventable disease at the rates in which Americans do. They also spend half than we do per person. Costs are kept low because the government sets prices for healthcare services. In recent years, more Australians are choosing to drop their private insurance and switching to free public insurance due to the increase in the cost of living. This is resulting in a problem with private insurance as younger healthier people are dropping their insurance while older sicker people are keeping private insurance, resulting in an increase in costs. The government is encouraging private insurance to decrease stress on the public insurance system.
Lastly, the video gives us insight into Canadas healthcare system. Canada has a universal system funded by taxpayers. Like other countries mentioned, Canada has better health outcomes and quality of care compared to the US.
I believe extending coverage in America will strengthen our healthcare system and lead to better health outcomes as seen in other countries.
Hey Lauren, Thanks for sharing your review of the PBS film “Healthcare: America vs. The World”!
I like a lot of the points you bring up in your review and I think they are very strong ones as well. I like the way you structure the review with each geographic location having a paragraph talking about how the health care systems work at each stop along the way. It is very interesting to see all of the spending that all of these countries accumulation health related costs and seeing that they are all less than the United States. One thing I would have liked to see is the disadvantages of the single payer universal system. The fact that if you have a non-life threating disability or things of that nature, you are instantly lower on the queue, and it make take weeks to months before you can be seen is very concerning. Other than that, everything you pointed out is spot on and it was a great review!
Hello Lauren. I would like to start off by saying that I enjoyed reading your review post. I believe that this film was very informative and gave great insight into healthcare around the world. I think that it is important to note the positives and negatives of each different type of healthcare that each country uses. I am one to believe that every citizen deserves healthcare, but I have been able to see the downfalls of universal health care or any kind of health care that is funded by the government. This film showed us positives such as people like Liam (and their families) being able to receive the medical treatment they needed in order to survive. I think we can all agree that healthcare is an extreme cost but that its also a necessity. In this film we have also been shown the negative effects of universal or government run healthcare. In most cases even though the country provides free healthcare they encourage people to pay for private healthcare to take the strain off the public sector. In most cases people are having to wait a very long time in order to receive treatments or visits. I think that each country no matter what kind of healthcare system they use has flaws that can be fixed or overcome. We all need to be able to work together and communicate our needs so that possible in the future we can better our healthcare system and keep politics out of health.