Our world is a very diverse place, one constant, no matter which part of the world you are in is the occurrence of sickness and diseases. To tackle these health issues, a lot of nations have devised health care systems which aim to deliver health services to those in need. The quality and affordability of these services, however, depend on various circumstances and these are varied for different countries. This depends on many factors such as education, economy, and infrastructure. The few countries which boast advanced and functional health setups are mostly developed western countries.
All is not so well tuned however as many of these countries struggle to move around their budgets and establish this care as 'affordable for all', and since these programmes are usually controlled by the government they need to be of a consistently high quality irrespective of price.
France
France has integrated a system of health care since 1998 where smart-cards known as 'Carte Vitale' are designed to reimburse people for medical expenses and the insurance usually cover from 70% to 100% of medical expenses. The French system is funded by taxpayer money, but with the growing unemployment rates, this has gone awry and seems to indicate a troubling time with low budgeting for reforms.
United Kingdom
The National Health Service of the United Kingdom is seen as one of the best health care systems in the world. The problem in the UK is that cost cuts have reached a point where the spending has gone below the international average of the top health service providing nations including France, US and Germany among others.
The waiting lines are growing and the issue of NHS is debated across the country as one of the top political talking points. Proposals for new employment contracts last year saw doctors across the UK going on strike protesting rigorous and unsafe working hours.
United States
The United States and its struggle with the various versions of health care measures are in the news worldwide, even though the country spends the most amount of its GDP on it than any other country in the world.
President Barack Obama tried to establish a countrywide system, known as the Affordable Care Act or ACA - more commonly known as Obamacare - and his efforts brought down health insurance coverage to about 10%. However, in comparison to other countries, the high prices of insurance and consultation have always set the United States apart. The Republican party has debated Obamacare for years and are now trying to repeal and replace it with their own version. The problems faced in the American system are those of high prices and coverage obligations, and with the unstable political landscape of the country, it does not seem like they will go away anytime soon.
Spain
Spain is one of the few countries in the world which offers a free universal health system to its residents and visitors, the price of which is covered partially through social security payments.
The system is decentralised meaning specific regions are in charge of monitoring their policies, this results in quite a difference in quality across the country with Madrid and Barcelona being the leading medical destinations as these regions are the primary economic zones of Spain.
Canada
Canada is often considered by many as an example of a successful government-run health care system in North America. And much like Spain, the system in Canada is regulated regionally. Even though it is considered affordable, the problem in the Canadian health care system is that of waiting time, especially for surgeries requiring specialists, the situation is considered worse than that in the United Kingdom.
