The United States Healthcare System Lags Behind

 The definition of healthcare is defined as the maintenance and/or improvement of health with the prevention, treatment, and diagnosis of a disease state. Healthcare is not only about a physician delivering a treatment and a diagnosis to a patient. Healthcare is a well-rounded system that is influenced by social and economic conditions. According to the World Health Organization, a healthcare system requires a financing mechanism, trained and professional workforce, reliable policies, and well-maintained health facilities to deliver medicine and technology. A good healthcare system can contribute to a country’s economy, it’s development and its industrialization.

            According to worldometers.info Hong Kong and Japan have the highest life expectancy with around 85 years and Macao, Switzerland, Singapore, Italy and Spain are close with a life expectancy average of 84. For comparison, the United States ranked 46 (yes, you read that right FORTY-SIX) with an average life expectancy of 79 years. Surprisingly, when I look at the countries with the most well-developed healthcare system according to US News the top 3 countries were Canada, Denmark, and Sweden. I am surprised because only Japan and Switzerland made the Top 10 list. I was assuming the best healthcare systems would lead to a longer life expectancy. Even though this was probably an opinion piece and each list I had varied, I am not surprised by some of these countries on the list.

            I have attached a picture of a world map that indicates countries that have free and universal healthcare and countries that do not have free nor universal healthcare. What is so sad to see is that the United States, one of the most developed countries in the world does not have free and universal healthcare. On a blog piece website, one of the cons of universal healthcare was “forces healthy people to pay for others’ medical care.” Sadly, that is the narrative feed to Americans and why having universal healthcare is a bad idea. The pros, however, in my opinion, outweighed the cons. The pros were lower healthcare costs, standard care, which eliminates the need for private insurance. Healthcare should be universal because living and being healthy is a human right and should not be determined by random people who are out of touch with most Americans. Going back to the definition of healthcare and how it can boost economies, I believe that if the United States adopted a universal healthcare system the economy would increase. Although the United States does not have the best healthcare system and the longest life expectancy we should because we are one of the most developed nations.

 

 

 

 

Reference:  "Health Topics: Health Systems". www.who.int. World Health Organization. Archived from the original on 2019-07-18. Retrieved 2013-11-24