In the current paper, the healthcare system of the United States and Japan will be enlightened and compared in accordance with their access to the population, medication coverage, referral requirements and financial implications. The U.S healthcare system is incorporated by many organizations, mainly comprising of Medicare, Veteran’s Health Administration, Children’s Health Insurance Program and Medicaid. The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) provides easy access of healthcare services to the children at low-cost (Andersen & Newman, 2004).
Medicaid provides healthcare services to underprivileged families, which eventually provides healthcare services to children who belong from underprivileged families. This program also accounts for children and pregnant women in order to reduce the extent of prenatal deaths and enhance the overall quality of healthcare (Szilagyi et al., 2004). Medicaid provides healthcare services on account of individual’s household size income whereas, the unemployed individuals are provided with free healthcare services on the basis of their eligibility (Andersen & Newman, 2004).
In U.S healthcare system, if an individual is unable to pay for any expenses and lacks a specific amount of personal savings, the free healthcare services are also provided by Medicaid whereas, the children of unemployed individuals are provided with the healthcare access via CHIP which also provides financial assistance for medications (Szilagyi et al., 2004). Similarly, Medicare offers healthcare services to the retirees on the basis of their tenure and pension plan whereas, its coverage may fluctuate on the basis of pension plan and tenure of retirees (Andersen & Newman, 2004).
However, the individuals who are aged above 65 are provided with free healthcare services by Medicaid. In the United States, the healthcare organization account for the primary care physician, who is liable to diagnose the patients and under the prevalence of chronic or at-risk diseases, the primary care physicians incorporate the adequate referrals by means of necessary documentations and formal justifications based on laboratory tests and diagnosis. After the referrals are approved, the patients have the access to consult the specialists (Andersen & Newman, 2004).
In Japan, free access to healthcare is considered as a significant characteristic due to which the overall healthcare costs of the population are covered 70% by the government. The healthcare system in japan incorporates three major organization, Employees’ Health Insurance System, Long Life Health Insurance System and National Health Insurance System (Mitchell et al., 2004). In Japan, it is a legal obligation for every individual, regardless of their socioeconomic status, to have healthcare insurance coverage by the government and hence, individuals account for only 30% to pay for their health expenses. This ratio remains constant for children, adults, unemployed individuals and retirees (Ikeda, 2004).
In Japan, the healthcare access to underprivileged children accounts from 90% free coverage by the National Health Insurance System. The healthcare access to unemployed individuals is also covered by the National Health Insurance System. The individuals are required to pay 20% for children who are under 6 years old, 30% for individuals who are 7 to 69 years old whereas, 10% for individuals who are aged above 69 years (Mitchell et al., 2004).
These standard for coverage are made consistent throughout the country regardless of individuals’ socioeconomic level. Moreover, the retirees are provided with the Long Life Health Insurance System with the 10% healthcare expense who are aged above 74 years. The healthcare systems are centralized and operate at a federal basis due to which they remain consistent with their standard with easy access. In Japan, the specialist referral is provided on a need basis by the primary care physician on the basis of the early lab diagnosis (Ikeda, 2004).
References
Andersen, R., & Newman, J. F. (2005). Societal and individual determinants of medical care utilization in the United States. Milbank Quarterly, 83(4), Online-only.
Ikeda, S. (2004). Health‐care system in Japan. Psychogeriatrics, 4(4), 111-113.
Mitchell, O. S., Piggott, J., & Shimizutani, S. (2004). Aged-care support in Japan: Perspectives and challenges (No. w10882). National Bureau of Economic Research.
Szilagyi, P. G., Dick, A. W., Klein, J. D., Shone, L. P., Zwanziger, J., & McInerny, T. (2004). Improved access and quality of care after enrollment in the New York State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).Pediatrics, 113(5), e395-e404.
