Why is it so difficult to determine which country has the best health system? De

Question

Why is it so difficult to determine which country has the best health system? Describe the empirical issues related to evaluation of the systems as well as possible ways to overcome these difficulties. If you had to choose one, which country do you think has the best health system? Use course concepts to support your answer. Is death an enemy that is to be fought off at all costs or is it a condition of life that is to be accepted? How does the way we answer this question affect the kind of healthcare system we might embrace?

Explanation / Answer

Solution:

It is difficult to determine which country has best health care system because for comparison the parameters and condition of data collection should be similar. But different countries have different social, political and economic conditions which is not suitable for comparison. Below are some of the reasons that makes the parameters for comparison between countries difficult:

Social and political reason: many countries has adverse political and social condition which makes the comparison difficult. For example, Iraq is facing war situation, the Maldives has the most unstable government in the world. These conditions make situation adverse and the comparison becomes meaningless.

Technological advancement: Developed countries are already has access for the best technology in the world while developing or underdeveloped countries are still struggling to get those technology. So, despite of availability of best doctors and support staffs these countries are not considered as best place for health care system because of lagging in technology.

Other reasons: In other reason small open economy, population, transportation, international credit, capacity to absorbed new human and physical capital, etc.

Empirical issues:

GDP: The per capita GDP of each countries is different which makes the comparison difficult because government can’t increase its spending beyond a certain level that results in cutting services like health care to people. So, different government spending for different countries makes the parameter different.

Population: Many underdeveloped or developing countries has more population than advance countries that creates scarcity for health care system in these economies. Despite of availability of good health care system it is difficult to handle such a large population. So, the comparison becomes unstable.

Prices: Due to government regulations and other reasons associated with the production of pharmaceuticals, health care system becomes costly. So, prices in many countries may be higher but health care system might be good. But indifferent prices makes the comparison difficult.

Ways to overcome:

Government reimbursement: The indifferent price is due to the reimbursement provided by the government to the pharmaceuticals. Government could reduce it to overcome the problem.

Foreign Investment: Government should become more open in health care system to the outside world. It will increase FDI which will increase the economic situation. It will empower the government to increase spending on health care system of the country and hence will improve health care system.

Best healthcare system country:

The condition of health care system is measured by many parameters. Some parameters are the percentage of GDP spend on health system, growth rate of spend on health system and availability of doctors per thousand population. According to me the France has the best health care system in the world because it spends more than 10% of GDP on health care. The spending growth rate every year is also increasing by more than 2%. Availability of doctors is also good around 4 per thousand of population. The state reimburses around 70 to 100% to the patients. The poorest people and the long-term sick are covered 100%.

Every living being has a definite life. Death is the final form of life that can’t be separated from our life. So, it shouldn’t be treated as enemy. But, every human being should live to the time span that is equal to the life expectancy and death should be occurred by natural ways.

But as advancement of technology is increasing the difficult disease is also getting furnished. In some disease there may be a condition in which a person may be alive clinically but there is no hope of resurrection. Also, the sufferings make the condition worse for the patient as well as the family. That’s why in many countries, mercy killing is allowed in critical diseases or when there is no hope of life. Although, these things can end the suffering of the patient but it can also increase the situation in which a person can be saved but due to option of mercy killing he/she or his/her family opted for death to reduce the burden of life.

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