Compare and Contrast Healthcare System in China and US

Name: Institution: Course Code: Date: Compare and Contrast Healthcare System in China and US Introduction China and US have two different healthcare systems which are influenced by their health insurance approaches. Partly, these differences stem from the inherent factor of different economic models pertinent to the two countries. The US has adopted a capitalistic economic model whilst China is communistic. Each of their healthcare model must be aligned with the economic model of the country. There are also other factors that significantly affect these two-healthcare systems. For example, China has a population of 1.3 billion while the US it has only a population of 320 million people and creating a system that covers the Chinese population would be more challenging, at least in theory. Chinese mortality rate is 7.8 people for every 1000 people compared to US of 8.4 people for every 1000 people as at 2017. Despite the issues that underly the two models, the mortality rates statistics shows that the US system could be less effective than Chinese system which was announced in 2009. The Chinese government has categorized its population into ‘urbanicity and employment status.’ This meant that it created a three-tier system to net all the people in the country. The categories; The Basic Medical Insurance for Urban Employees, The Basic Medical Insurance for Urban Residents and The New Rural Cooperative Medical Insurance which was impelled by the SARS outbreak CITATION YuH15 \l 1033 (Yu). The Obama administration passed the affordable care act that focus on better public health delivery through extensive and less-conditional coverage for the people. Each of these healthcare systems is influenced by three main themes: national objectives, the structure of the government, and economic conditions. They two countries are centrally different in their national objectives, the structure of the government, and economic conditions and this has translated to different healthcare models. National objectives In each of the two countries, the healthcare system is designed by the political class and it has to resonate with their strategic national objectives. In the communist China, the primary national objective that necessitated the 2009 healthcare reform was to shield its citizens from the medical shocks that came with expensive medical care. Previously, people in Chinese tended to save for medical expenses because they had to cover their medical bills. The government developed the new structure to cover its citizens such that they would allow them to channel their savings into other things. Prior to this system, everyone in China had to pay for their medical bills unlike in the US where a person could be treated and then the cost would be covered later by the taxpayers, hospitals etc. if he/she was unable to pay. Therefore, the American healthcare system was designed to ‘increase the number of people with health insurance in order to encourage people to seek preventive treatment and to reduce the burden on providers caused by people receiving care without paying for it CITATION Ada12 \l 1033 (Powell). The primary objective of the US government was to ensure the people could receive quality healthcare at a lower cost. Structure of the government. China is communist government and United States is a democratic capitalist state. The two systems of governance perceive their citizens differently and therefore their healthcare system must be fundamentally different. In China, their recent healthcare reforms sought to ‘primarily focus on people living in rural areas and on people living in urban areas not working for large employers, while America’s reforms focused on employed people, low-income people, and children.’ These two strategies stem from the modes of governance. The two countries classify its populations into different demographic profiles that dictate the mode of healthcare system they could adopt. All these systems adopted by the Chinese government are different. The basic medical insurance for urban employees is compulsory based on employment and it provides basic medical insurance coverage for urban employees in both the public and private sectors. The local governments set the level of deductibles, copayments, and reimbursement caps according to local economic levels’ CITATION Ada12 \l 1033 (Powell). The Basic medical insurance for urban residents provides coverage to the urban residents without formal employment with the intention of eliminating impoverishment resulting from chronic or fatal diseases, which can lead to catastrophic medical expenditure. It covers primary and secondary school students, young children and any other willing unemployed urban resident. The New Rural Cooperative Medical Insurance covers ‘rural residents on a voluntary basis in order to avoid impoverishment caused by catastrophic expenses from infectious and endemic diseases.’ On the other hand, the US system which has a tiered administrative system; the federal and state legislative processes. This prompted the framers of the new act (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) to allow the states to create different flavors of the bill which could meet the needs of its people. Each state customizes the system to suit the needs of its citizens. Therefore, the demographic segmentation of the population for the health insurance is different because of the two different systems of governance. Healthcare influenced by economic conditions The capita income of these two countries differs greatly with US having a per capita income of $48,000 per year while in China is roughly $8000. These two numbers show the huge disparity of the two economic system and thus the difference in the quality of life. The Chinese model is designed to address a huge population which has relatively low income compare to the US. For this system, it is tiered to emphasize on prevention than in the American healthcare system. The Chinese model of insurance is subsidized by the government to help make the services affordable to the vast population. Secondly, the multitiered healthcare providers are relatively loosely licensed in China to enable providers without even formal education to become healthcare providers CITATION Ada12 \l 1033 (Powell). This allows for lower cost for the common ailments which do not need specialized care. Referrals to higher tiers attract more expenses and the medical care becomes expensive. This would be unreachable to majority of the population without the insurance. On the other hand, the US have a very stringent regulatory licensing system for medical practitioners. Thus, the cost of healthcare is significantly higher in the US because the healthcare providers are trained and must be compensated decent salaries. Therefore, it is very evident that the economic factors have played out in determining the cost and model of healthcare system. It has prompted the Chinese authorities to lower the bar for providers for lower cost services which can be covered by their insurance comfortably whilst the US has raised its minimum standards for medical care providers and hence increased the cost of its insurance policies. Despite these themes, the two healthcare approaches have few similarities and differences which are inherent from their countries. Similarities The countries also have a ballooning aging population which will be expensive to future governments to provide care. With a young population, a nation can boast of having enough youth to spearhead its expansion agenda as well as other sectors. However, for the US and China, the aging population is something that not only interferes with the expansion plans but also their healthcare spending. According to seniorcare.com, “the U.S. has reached a new milestone – a population of over 50 million seniors for the first time in the history of the USA.” Apparently, the current number of people who are over 65 years and above in the US stands at 51,870,940 in 2017 and still growing. These are new highs for the US...