The US Healthcare System: Medicare, Medicaid & Employer-Sponsored Plans - Essay Sample

Introduction

In the United States, health care is offered by different institutions. Health care organizations are hugely possessed and managed by private sector enterprises. American health care is exceptional among advanced industrialized nations. The United States finances two types of health plans namely; Medicare and Medicaid. The health care plans are mostly designed for the poor, young, disabled and the elderly. Nevertheless, numerous Americans have their health care compensated by their employers. Contrary, Australia's health care system is one of the most all-inclusive across the world (Picchi, 2017). It offers an array of amenities from universal to preventive health, over to curing more multi-faceted disorders, that may require a professional or hospital care. The paper compares and contrasts the U.S. health care framework to Australia's health care system.

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In terms of health care coverage in the U.S., 49% comes from employers, 5% from an individual, 16% from Medicaid, 13% from Medicare, 1% from other Public, and 16% from uninsured parties. The average cost of a routine office check in the United States is $68 (Dixit & Sambasiyan, 2018). On the other hand, Australian citizens and members with a long-lasting resident visa are eligible for Medicare. The health care plan offers benefits for surgical procedures, therapeutic processes, tests and examinations, eye tests and consultation fees. Medicare compensates 85% of the program fee for out of the hospice services (Picchi, 2017). This shows that consumers are more satisfied in Australia than in the United States

The U.S. health care framework delivers inferior results at a high price than Australia's arrangement. In the United States, about one in 10 citizens do not have health insurance. On the other hand, the Australian government offers free or sponsored health care for its people usually termed as universal care. The United States has the lowest life expectancy and the highest disease burden matched to Australia. The U.S life expectancy is 78.69 years and disease burden is 23,104 per 100,000 people. However, in Australia, 82.5 years and disease burden are 18,758 per 100,000 people. The United States spends about $8, 8000 per capita on health care costs equated to about $4000 per person in Australia (O'Brien & Dalton, 2017).

The U.S. residents have the right to pursue their private insurers to assist them from extreme medical costs in case they become critically ill. Medicaid encompasses more than 65 million Americans and provides low-income household insurance that is appropriate as private insurance. Although the superiority of accessible health care in the U.S. is of high value, insurance intricacy, expenses, and access problems restrict the general health position of numerous Americans. On the other hand, 40% of Australian citizens prefer private insurance. In case a citizen decides to be treated privately, they can select their physician. About 75% of the schedule is covered for private patients (Mossialos, Wenzl, Osborn, & Sarnak, 2016).

In the United States, Medicare insures citizens aged 65 years or older and incapacitated individuals. The first and second parts of Medical encompass hospital insurance like inpatient care, outpatient care, and physician's services. Medicare is funded through integration a combination of payrolls, federal general revenues, and premiums. Additionally, Medicaid is tax-financed and administered by states, which operate the program within wide range federal standards. Australia finances its health care plan by taxing its citizens between 25 to 3.5% of their income. About six out of 10 adult Australian citizens carry private health insurance which encompasses therapy that is not entailed in public insurance like dental care (O'Brien & Dalton, 2017).

The U.S. and Australia's health care frameworks share various similarities. The public health framework is comprised of public hospices, community-oriented amenities, and allied health organizations hugely maintained and overseen by the state and regional administrations. The citizens in both respective countries access care within the public health arrangement for unrestricted or at a lower cost through Medicare for Australia and Medicaid and Medicare in the U.S. The private health system entails health service benefactors that are possessed and operated surreptitiously like private health care facilities, professional curative and affiliated health as well as apothecaries (Dixit & Sambasiyan, 2018). Additionally, physicians and particularly universal physicians are the principal parties to acquiring health and care.

Conclusion

Conclusively, the current American health care system is a multi-faceted mix of public and private frameworks. Majority of U.S. citizens who possess health care insurance are sponsored by their employers. However, the federal government insures the impoverished (Medicaid) and the elderly (Medicare). Government insurance in the U.S. also covers veterans, Congressmen and federal employees. U.S. citizens also pay for their medical costs. Therefore, medical services are publicly funded by not publicly offered. Australia possesses a two-tier structure; public and private. Australian people, both long-standing citizens, and some visa holders are qualified to acquire high class unrestricted civic inpatient and outpatient hospice care. The Australian government offers help with medical costs through a scheme referred to as Medicare. Medicare offers free hospital care and also assists with the cost of seeing a physician or specialists, compensating for medicine and other treatment.

References

Dixit, S. K., & Sambasivan, M. (2018). A review of the Australian healthcare system: A policy perspective. SAGE open medicine, 6, 2050312118769211. Doi: 10.1177/2050312118769211

Mossialos, E., Wenzl, M., Osborn, R., & Sarnak, D. (2016). 2015 international profiles of health care systems. Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health.

O'Brien, L & Dalton, S. (2017). The Inside Scoop Part 2: A comparison of the US and Australian Healthcare Systems. On the Onwards. Retrieved from: https://onthewards.org/the-inside-scoop-part-2-a-comparison-of-the-us-and-australian-healthcare-systems/

Picchi, A. (2017). Trump says Australia's health care beats the U.S.'s: He's right. CBC News. Retrieved from: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-says-australias-health-care-beats-the-us-hes-right/