Health Care System: An International Perspective

Abstract

The health-care system in the United States is unique among sophisticated industrialised countries. The United States lacks a unified health-care system, lacks universal health-care coverage, and has just recently approved laws mandating healthcare coverage for nearly everyone. Instead of a national health service, a single-payer national health insurance system, or a multi-payer universal health insurance fund, the United States' health care system is best defined as a hybrid system. In 2014, private funds accounted for 48 percent of US health-care spending, with consumers accounting for 28 percent and private enterprises accounting for 20 percent. The federal government accounted for 28% of total spending, with state and local governments accounting for the remaining 17%. [1] Even when it is publicly funded, the majority of health care is delivered privately.