Health Care....Ha

So in my liberal studies class we were required to watch a video called “Sick Around the World”. The video discusses the different successes and failures of healthcare in five other capitalist democracies and maybe figure out how to help us here in America. The five countries included Germany, Japan, Taiwan, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Not sure if I’m going in order but I will start with Japan. The Japanese go to the doctor’s office three times more than Americans, use more drugs, and have no waiting times. Yet they still they spend half per person on health care than we do here in the States. In Japan, the government regulates the prices healthcare facilities are allowed to charge and unfortunately about 50% of doctor’s offices are in major debt. The people love their way of things and couldn’t imagine receiving a doctors bill.

In Taiwan, they took the time to research other countries to see what system would work best for them. They settled on one that uses “smart cards”, which is looks like a debit card and includes all of your past health information and then pays your bills automatically. Since everything’s left up to the market, Taiwan’s finding their borrowing money from banks to pay to providers.  

Germany offers universal health care. The healthy basically pay for the poor people over there. Doctors and other medical physicians earn less than American physicians, about half or if you’re lucky two-thirds, because they have regulated prices as well.

The Swiss are all about universal health care. In the United Kingdom, everyone pays through taxes. No one is ever presented with a bill as long as they’re with the National Health Service. Hospitals compete because people are allowed to go where ever they want to take their service and doctors get paid more based on their performance.

This video was way better than I expected it to be, check it out at:

Sick Around the World