Introduction
United States and France are nations with large economies that share several principals in health care. The French health care ranks the best in the world as stated by World Health Organization. Health care is an important aspect in every country. Health care varies from one country to another depending on the policies that the government implements.
Comparison of French Health Care to United States Health Care
Health care and medical practice in United States and France have many differences in terms of efficiency, hospital practices, curative and preventive care. The French hospitals lie in the public sector and most of the practitioners receive salary. The government controls the health care system in France. In the United States, the regional medical centers have close relations with research and education. It makes health care to benefit from services of interns that receive low pay. The health care system of France is one of the expensive health care systems in the world. Containment of costs is the work of government in France because no specialist or a general practitioner can charge more than the rates set by the government. Health care costs in France remain outpaced by the United States. America spends over $3.8 trillion on health care in comparison to France that spends $4086 per capita (Kimberly, 2008). The big differences arise because of the high earnings of health professionals in America. Physicians in America earn a lot of money in comparison to physicians in France because physicians in France remain attached to a fee for service medicine because of the freedom that comes with it. They receive their payments through national conventions unlike the Americans who face strict payment rules and regulations from Medicare and American Insurers. The low income of French physicians arises because of practice liability by medical schools and they join the market with little debt to pay.
France and United states have insurance plans to offer to its citizens. Affordable Care Act has implemented an online market place where people can choose a suitable insurance that best suits the individual. Both public and private insurance companies run the United States Healthcare system. However, the private sector holds the biggest stake of the healthcare system. The public health insurance consists of the following; Medicare, Medicaid, S-CHIP and VA. Medicare which is a federal program caters for persons of age 65 and above together with some persons with disabilities. It is a single-payer program. Single-payer means that only one party handles compensation. In this case, the government is a party, which handles the compensation. There are employer based insurance where employer submits premiums for the employee and other Americans can choose the insurance in the market place that suit them. The national insurance scheme in France covers all the citizens and people living or working in France. It also covers the dependents of people working or living in America. French provides universal insurance coverage aimed at delivering quality care to all citizens without discrimination.
Medicaid program caters for low-income earners and people with disabilities. Medicaid however excludes adults without children and makes the eligibility of people for Medicaid is at the discretion of the individual states. The federal government caters for 57% of Medicaid expenses collectively (Shi & Singh, 2012). Medicaid has a downside because of low rate of reimbursement.
The funding of the health care encompasses the gathering funds and the repayment health care providers for their services. United States government collectively shares these two processes with privately owned insurance companies. Multiple parties therefore have a part to play in the provision of healthcare. These parties involved include; individuals and businesses, government, private insurers and health service providers. In France, funding of health care receives control and supervision from the Ministry of Finance.
The organization of French health care follows pluralism and liberalism organization. The French NHI receive financing by employer payroll and social contributions levied by the treasury on investment income and all earnings. The social contribution and taxes make health care progressive. The NHI funds around 75% of private insurance (France, 2003). The physicians receive their payments direct from patients who are then reimbursed by local health insurance. In United States, there is an increase in out of pocket expenses because of severe illness, which is a different case in France. Insurance coverage increases in France when illnesses increase. . It gives the patients the freedom to choose a physician. Freedom to choose is advantageous because patients select the physician according to their preference. The physicians also have the freedom to practice wherever they want either in private practice public centers. Clinical freedom allows the health care practitioners to have satisfaction and execute their work in a professional way. The liberalism in health care brings competition. Competition is useful because it improves delivery of care to the citizens.
The French health care system has the existence of ambulatory services, which has an office based solo, practice that dominates the delivery of ambulatory services. French health care has concepts of pluralism that allows for organizational diversity making people to exist without discrimination. People have access to care without issues of discrimination unlike the American system that suffers incidences of discrimination in terms of origin. The National Hospital Insurance has large numbers of clerical and administrative personnel in comparison to the United States system. The personnel perform billing duties and documentation of medical procedures.
The American health care system is beneficial because it allows research, which brings breakthroughs to various chronic illnesses. Medical institutions in United States take this opportunity to and implement it in various health care facilities due to the existing free-market system. People visit the United States from all corners of the world in order to access the health care contributing to innovation. Insurance access to citizens in United States relieves the patients of costs.
The healthcare system in the United States caters for the most vulnerable in society. It ensures those who may struggle to provide for themselves have a cover. Through Medicare, people with disabilities and senior citizens are covered. Medicaid covers low earners and the Affordable Care Act generally covers peoples under the age of 26 (Cohen & Hanft, 2004). The healthcare system has proven to be vital in the implementation of safety regulations. Government institutions for example the food and drug administration monitor the administration of worthy health services. These institutions also assure the patients of safe medications. There exists an institution called The National Institutes of Health. This institution monitors standards for biomedical research. Another advantage of the healthcare system is that it presents the US citizens with options, which means that one can choose the particular type of health insurance depending on their financial ability unlike the France where the government provides a general insurance cover to its citizens. The United States Healthcare system enforces the principle of patient privacy through the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (Kimberly et al, 2008). The Act ensures the protection of the patients’ health information.
The United States health care fails to protect the human right to life because of the high infant mortality rate. According to World Health Organization, the United States has the highest infant mortality rate in comparison to France. It ranks high with maternal mortality and higher rates of caesarian sections. Approximately over 40,000 people die every year because of lack of insurance (Jost, 2008). France eliminated such issues by providing health care insurance to all its citizens. America has over 45 million that do not have health care insurance and most of them are African Americans. That fact shows that there is existence of discrimination in terms of origin because people who have insurance are underinsured and most of the even forgo care because off co-pays and deductibles. America has few medical professionals like nurses and doctors in comparison to France, which makes physicians, and hospitals attend to wealthier people in America, which leads to disparity in health care. In terms of primary care infrastructure, United States ranks the lowest among high-income nations. In fact, there is a shortage of primary care doctors. All these features in United States health care lead to stratification of the health care sector. Several tiers for different categories of care exist in this system (Niles, 2011). Violation of rights of people with color continues being a big challenge in United States health care because the quality of care they receive is low.
The health care professionals in United States earn a little and this has led to professionals moving to other countries that pay well. For example, the United States faces a major shortage of nurses. It makes the remaining professionals to have little or no morale. The employer-sponsored insurance is the primary way in which the Americans receive their covers where employers provide for their employees. It makes unemployed people and business people have a disadvantage because they do not have formal employment. The financing of the United States health care gives the taxpayer a burden because taxes are high in United States to fund programs of health care. Individuals and businesses pay taxes to the government (Winter, 2013). Employers remit monthly premiums to employer based insurance and it makes the citizens to carry this burden of funding their care through high taxation.
France’s healthcare system is a merger between various medical service providers for example public and private hospitals. It provides services to all citizens regardless of the demographic differences for example age or sex (Field, 2007). Mandatory health deductions from salaries finance the system. The self-employed, employers and employees alike pay the contributions. The central government and other users also contribute to the healthcare system.
The French health care system strains the government budget because it depends on the state to provide funds to run programs that deal with health care. Insurance coverage from the state makes people to have an attitude because people who do not frequent care facilities think that they pay for them. The access to care strains the medical practitioners. Both systems of health care in the two nations depend largely on private sector. They both provide employer based insurance cover.
Accessible of quality care is efficient in France in comparison to the United States. French has ways of cutting costs, which makes its care affordable to the citizens. Health care in both nations faces challenges but the leadership determines where the country will go in terms of policies that touch on health care. The current American government has tried to by implementing Affordable Care Act that aims at providing insurance to all people. French system of health care remains a leader in providing quality, efficient and affordable care to the citizens. Quality delivery of care is the obligation of the government and both the United States and France continue making changes towards improving care.
ReferencesTop of Form
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Shi, L., & Singh, D. A. (2012). Delivering health care in America: A systems approach. Sudbury, Mass: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
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