Pros And Cons Of Payment

With all the focus our country has recently put on Healthcare I thought is necessary to look at a country which has used a Universal Health care model to understand where we as a country are heading and why so many people are opposed to it. For years I have heard that Japanese healthcare was one of the best in the world and known of people who would travel to Japan to receive treatment. Japan has been at the forefront of technology and it seems that the use of that technology has helped them advance in Health Care as well. In comparing both Japanese and American Health Care Systems I am hoping to find if Japanese Health Care is better than our American Health Care System.

In Japan, prices for every procedure and drug are negotiated every two years between the physicians and the government. The prices are fixed and the same regardless of where you go in Japan for treatment (Reid, 2008). In the United States, different healthcare plans offer a variety of coverage for medications but some prescriptions can be denied by the insurance company based on your type of insurance plan. Drug companies are very competitive in the United States and prices are expensive. Frequently, insurance companies might cover a similar or generic form of medication rather than the brand name medication and insurance co-pays differ depending on which drug is prescribed.

Healthcare is an ever growing concern around the world today. Populations continue to grow and people are living longer than ever. Nations have different systems for healthcare. The United States and Japan are two healthcare systems that are have different coverages for their citizens.

The U.S. spends more on health care than the next 10 biggest spenders combined: Japan, Germany, France, China, the U.K., Italy, Canada, Brazil, Spain and Australia. 10 of the 20 occupations

The United States currently employs a multipayer system. The payers in this system include the government and private insurance companies., thus the collection of money for health care is a joint responsibility of both parties. Private insurance companies collect premiums and other payments from enrolled individuals and businesses. The government collects taxes from individuals and businesses. Regarding reimbursement, the private insurance industry reimburses providers for health care services delivered to privately insured individuals, while the government reimburses providers for health care services delivered to publicly insured individuals (e.g. people enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid, S-CHIP, or the VA).

The United States along with other countries try to find ways to control medical costs. In 2009, the United States changed HMOs into accountable health organizations in which hospitals and doctors form an alliance and take financial and management responsibilities for their patients (Rodwin, 2010). France changed how they did their billing and started using state managed care. By 2012, Japan should be processing all claims through electronic billing. Instead of fee-for-service, Japan is using per-diem and bundled payments to pay physicians and hospitals. No matter how a country looks at it managed care tools are still around, and they will always be. The government just needs to listen to the voice of its people (Rodwin, 2010).

A major concern in the United States today is our healthcare policy. The most recent change in our healthcare came in 2010 with President Obama signing the Affordable Care Act into law. The Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, was President Obama’s solution to our current healthcare situation. In a nutshell, Obamacare was made to give everyone access to affordable healthcare (Steinbrook 2012). However, many people disagree with Obamacare and think that there must be a better solution. Great Britain and Japan are two countries that have intriguing types of healthcare that can also be affective in the United States. Great Britain has

Americans have been faced with a new health care reform act known as Affordable Care Act initiated in 2010. Why was it so important for this nation to reform is health care system? How are we sure the ACA is improving our system for the American people? For many years, the health care industry has left many Americans uninsured. With health care costs on the rise and very few able to afford costs, and the quality of care in underserved areas not what it should be has left this nation largely unhealthy. Several landmark reports, including the Center for Disease Control factsheets and the Healthy People 2020 have astounding statistics confirming these alarming rates and clearly identifying the need for reform. The Affordable Care Act is the starting foundation for Americans to start investing in their own promotion of wellness and disease prevention. By choosing healthier lifestyle changes, individuals can make a difference which in turn will improve our nation’s overall health for the better.

However, the most common way used worldwide is with payroll deductions, very similar to how it is done in the U.S. In our country most people pay for healthcare insurance by having the cost deducted from their payroll check and often their employer matches the deduction in some way. In those other countries that use payroll deduction instead of the money deduced from the payroll going to an insurance company the deduction goes to the government healthcare system (Berk, 2007).

has the world’s most expensive healthcare system, yet one-sixth of Americans are uninsured. Approximately one-third (31%) of adults and a little more than one-half (54%) of children do not have a primary care doctor. Federal spending on healthcare in 2005 alone totaled $600 billion, a massive one-quarter of the federal budget. Someone files for bankruptcy every 30 seconds in the U.S of health concerns. And every 1.5 million families lose their homes to foreclosure due to unaffordable medical costs. The U.S. spends six times more per capita on the administration of the health insurance system than Western European nations, who insure all citizens.“ www.realtruth.org/articles/090203-005-health.html. “In United States, the annual cost of health care per capita is $5,711. http://www.visualeconomics.com/healthcare-costs-around-the-world_2010-03-01/#ixzz12f0I1lbk

The health care system varies from country to country although a factor they all have in common is that great measures of research are taken in order to find results and achieve a good health care system for the economy. Between Australia and japan, there are great initiatives taken to help in association to this, including economic, social and political circumstances, all influencing the way in which the countries health care system is shaped and run.

Contrary to what many people believe, America’s health status is not quite “up-to-par,” to say the least. Over forty-seven million people in the United States lack health insurance; that is more than 15% of our nation’s population! At first this disturbing truth seems impossible to believe, being as America is one of the most technologically advanced and economically developed countries in the world. “We spend trillions of dollars per year on medical care. That’s nearly half of all the health dollars spent in the world. But we’ve seen our statistics. We live shorter, often sicker lives than almost every other industrialized nation. “We rank 30th in [global] life expectancy” (Adelman 2008). Knowing this brings rise to the question: why are

Citizens in America obtain healthcare either through an employer, Medicare, or ,for the forty-five million, out-of-pocket. The number one in healthcare, Japan, uses the Bismarck model system- healthcare through insurance. America is almost the same, except the Bismarck insurance insures everyone without making a profit. Japan has more privately owned hospitals than America. This model can be funded several different ways for cost-control. The reason we have not changed our healthcare system is because of federal debt. Half of the health care costs are paid by the government. This debt will be America's downfall, but also the healthcare reform it so desperately

Understanding the classification of healthcare services in terms of acute and long term care enable us to plan for services, to describe institutions, and to allocate funding and reimbursement. In the United States, healthcare services provided by health care providers (such as doctors and hospitals) are paid for by the following including, private insurance, Government insurance programs, people themselves (personal, out-of-pocket funds). Additionally, the government directly provides some health care in government hospitals and clinics staffed by government employees. Examples are the Veteran’s Health Administration and the Indian Health Service.

In Japan it seems as if the doctors have a closer relationship with their patients mainly because the patients’ g o to the doctor three times more than Americans and the doctors’ still make house calls. Japan has always had extraordinary health statistics, mainly because the have a healthier diet and lifestyle.