Health
The words "health care" and "comedy" aren't usually found in the same sentence, but in Academy Award winning filmmaker Michael Moore's new movie 'SICKO,' they go together hand in (rubber) glove.
Michael Moore's film Sicko reminded us that 47 million Americans were not covered by medical insurance and therefore had little or no access to treatment.
Healthcare has become a fundamental right of every citizen. However, it raises many questions for policymakers and remains central to a real understanding of the welfare state.
But the burning issue of health has long been troublesome for successive governments' on both sides of the Atlantic.
Health plays the key role in determining the human capital. Better health improves the efficiency and the productivity of the labor force, thereby contributing in the economic growth and an improvement in the human development.
History
Some European countries started with compulsory sickness insurance, one of the first systems, for workers beginning in Germany in 1883; other countries including Britain, Austria, Norway or Russia, followed all the way through 1912. Other European countries, including France in 1910, and Switzerland in 1912, subsidized the mutual benefit societies that workers formed among themselves. So for a very long time, other countries have had some form of universal health care or at least the beginnings of it. The primary reason for the emergence of these programs in Europe was income stabilization and protection against the wage loss of sickness rather than payment for medical expenses, which came later.
In the USA, Employer sponsored health insurance became commonplace after World War II with President Truman throwing around the idea of a government-sponsored health plan during this postwar period. In 1965 President Lyndon B. Johnson made Medicare laws. In 1965, the budget for Medicare was around $10 billion.
In the UK, The NHS (National Health System) dates from 1948 with Health Secretary Aneurin Bevan opening Park Hospital in Manchester with the ambitious plan to bring good healthcare to all. For the first time, hospitals, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, opticians and dentists were brought together under one umbrella organization to provide services that were free for all at the point of delivery.
Problems
The United States of America is the owner of the most expensive health care system in the world. This is primarily due to the fact that the U.S. spends on the health care system more than any other country. A new analysis from U.S. federal government actuaries say that Americans spent $3.81 trillion on healthcare in 2019, according to a report from Axios. The amount is larger than the GDPs of such countries as Brazil, the U.K., Mexico, Canada or France alone.
Healthcare is the maintenance or improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of illness, injury, disease, and other physical or mental impairments. Access to healthcare varies across countries, municipalities, and individuals and is primarily influenced by economic and social factors.
According to the World Health Organization, a well-functioning healthcare system requires a steady financing mechanism, a properly-trained and adequately-paid workforce, well maintained facilities, and access to reliable information to base decisions on. France's health-care system has been globally recognized for overall quality. In its 2000 report, the World Health Organization ranked it the best national health-care system in the world.
Reforms
Barack Obama campaigned on the promise of major reforms to the healthcare system in an effort to reduce costs and make coverage available to most Americans. A painful political process ensued. Bitter partisan divisiveness, debates over the public option health plan, public misinformation filled the internet and print media. After much political maneuvering and intrigue rarely seen even in Washington, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Acts (PPACA) or Affordable Care Act (ACA), otherwise known as Obamacare was signed into law in 2010.
Yet, paradoxically, the most costly health care in the world is also one of the poorest in quality among western countries : United States Comes in Last Again on Health, Compared to Other Countries. Nonetheless, many Americans and Republican politicians lambasted what they considered a federal overreach, stating that health should remain the field of personal responsibility.