"United States Healthcare system: is there a remedy?", by Marina Levkovych.

In a year 2000 The World Health Organization presented its ranking on overall efficiency of world’s healthcare systems. Out of 190 ranks United States ended up on “honorable” 37th place, right next to Costa Rica, Slovenia and Cuba. Although supervision and public finance are not alone the remedy for existing health system “disorder”, world examples show that they both significantly improve the overall efficiency of healthcare.

The above mentioned report consists of numerous pages and measures the efficiency of the system from different perspectives. For example, it recognizes the health system goal in maximizing the health of population, and suggests that it’s performance to be measured in three key factors: health, responsiveness and fairness in finance. Above the 37th “honorable” place is a list of mostly European states such as Italy, Spain, Austria, Norway, Switzerland and Germany. French healthcare completes this list being considered the most competent in the World. It is necessary to note that it is not entirely publicly financed: 76.9% of it comes from public funding leaving the rest for a private sector. What makes it so advanced? The answer lays in what we call socialized medicine and Europeans call Universal coverage. In France every citizen has to have insurance. National healthcare program called Sécurité Sociale (social security) is being funded mostly out of income taxes and payroll. French citizens pay up to 21% of their income towards the health care funds. Employers also contribute to the funds, sometimes up to half of the cost. Government regulates most of the hospital fees. The coverage usually consist of the national plan, the bigger parts regulated by non-profit insurance companies, and supplemented coverage provided by small private insurance companies.  Another pleasant surprise is absence of coverage limit on heavily sick patients. In other words, the sicker you are - the more care you get. “France has made an unusual guarantee”, says Dr. Fabian Calvo, deputy director of France’s National Cancer Institute, ”that every cancer patient can get any drug, including the most expensive and even experimented ones that are still being tested(Healthcare lessons from France)”.

With all due respect to the World Health Organization, one can argue that it’s approach on measuring the efficiency might not be accurate. Victor Rodwin, professor of health policy and management at the Wagner School of Public Service at NYU, says in his interview to New York Times: “A study I would take more seriously is one published last year by Ellen Nolte and Martin McKee in the journal Health Affairs. They examined avoidable mortality — that is, deaths whose risk of occurrence would be far lower if the population had access to appropriate health care interventions. In that study, based on data for the year 2000, France was also ranked No. 1, with the lowest rate of avoidable deaths. The United States was last, in 19th place, with the highest rate of avoidable deaths”(Health Care Abroad: France). Here is another easily fixable flaw of the system, which bring us down in charts.

It is easy to see now that many issues of Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act emerged from the concept of Universal coverage. If World Health Organization proved these measures to work, why can’t we try it in United States? Isn’t it better to learn from mistakes of others rather than to make your own? It all depends whether it will fit US economical and social conditions, and all we have to do now is give it some time.

Works cited.

Arnquist, Sarah, and Anne Underwood. "Health Care Abroad: France." nytimes.com. New York Time Media Group. 11 Sept. 2009. Web. 9 Nov. 2012.   

     Brunner, Stephanie. "The French Health Care System." medicalnewstoday.com. MediLexicon, Intl., 8 Jun. 2009. Web. 09 Nov. 2012

"Healthcare lessons from France". Health Care Overhaul: Prescriptions For Change. By Joseph Shapiro. Natl. Public Radio, 11 July 2008. npr.org. Web. 9 Nov. 2012.

WHO (2000). The World Heath Report 2000. Health Systems: improving performance. World Health Organization. who.int. Web. 8 Nov. 2012.