Health Law and Legislation

Health Law and Legislation
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Health Law and Legislation
The healthcare system is fundamental for countries all over the world. This system provides health care and financial protection to the residents of a particular state. The main aim of the health care system is to ensure that the citizens have access to health services and are afforded by some financial risk protection. Health care is a fundamental human right according to the World Health Organization, and thus it is crucial to a country`s well-being. There are various models of these systems in different countries depending on who is covered, what services are covered and how the cost is covered. The major types of healthcare systems include; national health insurance, national health system and a socialised insurance system.
The National Health System is real socialized medicine where health care is provided and financed by the government through taxation. The state manages the health institutions, and there is a low cost per capita in health like in Britain (Fiona&Duckett, 2017). The National Health Insurance consists of a single payer system where it is tax funded and privately run. This system the NHI limits the services they pay and care is publicly administered by private physicians as seen in Canada. Socialized health insurance is where health care financed by employers and employees, and it covers all the residents. Individual physicians and government deliver care has overall control over this sector.

The best health care system is the socialized insurance system. This method is seen in countries like Germany and United Kingdom where there is compulsory insurance for all the citizens. The employees and employers are mandated to share the cost of insurance mostly through the government. One good merit about this system is that it gives people that cannot afford health care primary health care to all the citizens without discrimination. It takes care of the unemployed and the needy (Brian&Titmuss, 2016). Here the insurance and payment are tightly integrated, and the government has overall control. The arrangements characterized in this system are usually independent and private.
The United States is characterized by a differential in the health care system where there is no central government agency for coordination and integration. There exist different payment, insurance and delivery mechanism (Barbara, 2000). The US can incorporate an American health insurance program that has a single-payer system. They should enact a bill to include more people in the current Medicare system under publicly financed and privately delivered healthcare. Patients should also have the right to choose their physicians and hospitals as well as receive a wide range of medical services like primary care (David&Anderson, 2015). The presence of Medicare makes it possible for the government to have overall control of the health sector if it wants as the current program is centralized and hence low administrative cost in the future. This would go a big way in providing as the saving made by Medicare with bulk purchasing, and reduced paper would be enough to cover all the residents at little cost.
America prides itself on being a democratic nation that thrives on capitalism. As such, the idea of a state-run, socialized health system scares most of the citizens as they view it as socialism. However, a socialized system could just mean making healthcare more affordable without a lot of government involvement. Another fear for the socialized policy by the US is that healthcare quality will decrease and there will be lack of specialization. Contrary to this belief, the health care system utilizes private care options very well.
References
Abel-Smith, Brian, and Richard M. Titmuss. The cost of the national health service in England and Wales. Cambridge University Press, 2016.
McDonald, Fiona, and Stephen Duckett. “Regulation, private health insurance, and the Australian health system.” McGill Journal of Law and Health 11.1 (2017): S31-S60.
Squires, David, and Chloe Anderson. “US health care from a global perspective: spending, use of services, prices, and health in 13 countries.” The Commonwealth Fund 15 (2015): 1-16.
Starfield, Barbara. “Is US health really the best in the world?.” Jama 284.4 (2000): 483-485.