Health Care Models of France, Germany, Japan, the UK, and Canada

France has among the best health care systems in the world. The model is based on
sickness funds from the classic Bismark Model that started in 1928 (Reid 57). According to
different statistics on national health, France rates are at the top in the global ranks. The model of
health system in France does the best job in encouraging health as well as making treatments.
The system in France ensures that it cures the diseases that are curable. France health care
system is ranked at the top when it comes to measures such as Disability-Adjusted Life
Expectancy (DALE), life expectancy in adults and infant mortality. The health Insurance system
in France covers all the citizens of that country and it guarantees every individual equal
treatment levels. The French model ensures that the nation has more doctors per capita and more
hospital beds. In comparison to American’s model, where individuals see a doctor five times per
year, the French make about eight visits and also takes more shots and pills. The health care
model in France allows them to consume more medicine and achieve high quality products while
paying less than the Americans.
The French health system model is a system of private doctors that treat patients who
have already bought health insurance. In order to cover most of the costs, health insurance is
bought from private insurers or from the government’s health plan (Reid 55). Most of the doctors

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in France are private and their charges on treatment of the patients is on a fee-for-service basis.
However, just like in the United States model, the French model of health system ensures that the
citizens buy health insurance via their jobs, where the worker and employer split costs. The
French model has a greed-control mechanism. The sickness insurance funds, caisses d’assurance
maladie, are nonprofit entities whose main concerns are payment of people’s health rather than
providing the investors with returns. Unlike in the United States, the health insurance funds in
France cannot turn down an individual for coverage regardless of the previous conditions such as
the ones that occur when individuals change their jobs. A “card of life” or the “vital card” from
the French health system contains the entire medical record of the holder dated since 1998. The
card is important in the health care of an individual because it pays the medical bills. The card
knows the health insurance funds of an individual and the sickness funds that cover the patient
(Reid 62).

Germany’s Health Care System

Bismarck’s Sickness Insurance Law was the first health care system nationally. The
program ensured compulsory medical insurance with premiums that were jointly paid by
employers and employees. This structure is used by most nations worldwide and it is still used at
its home country, Germany where it provides 82 million Germans with guaranteed medical care.
Unlike in the other models, German’s health care model provides cover to all the individuals that
live in that country including doctors, chiropractors, hospitals, all prescriptions, health clubs,
nursing homes as well as vacation trips to a spa. The model eliminates “waiting time” and
queues that may be in existence (Reid 68). In German, most practitioners in the medical
profession are businesspersons who work in private clinics.

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Unlike in the United States, the private hospitals and clinics experience very minimal
inputs from the government control. However, most of the hospitals in Germany are municipal-
or charity-operated (Reid 68). Free choice treatment and insurance makes Germany’s health care
system one of the most expensive in the world. Germany’s health care system consume about
11% of the country’s GDP while in United States, the system spends about 17% of the country’s
GDP. The digital health card introduced much later than in France has also helped reduce much
of the paperwork.
In the start of the twenty first century, there were approximately four hundred
Krankenkassen, (insurance funds). However, by the mid-2010, they had been merged and
reduced to about 180 insurance funds. As a greed-control mechanism, the prices are as a result of
the arrangements made by doctor’s associations and the hospitals (Reid 73). In Germany’s health
Insurance model, patients never get in contact with their bills because the doctors collect them
from sickness funds. Just like the United States citizens pay in the Medicare and Security taxes,
Germans pay 15 percent of their paychecks for the health insurance that is split between the
employer and the worker. However, the Germans get better deals than the Americans because an
American also pays for the health insurance premium that ranges between 2-10 percent payments
in addition to the payroll taxes. The version of Bismarck used in the Germany health system is
such that the sickness funds are nonprofit entities. Unlike the U.S. workers with limited selection
of insurance plans, Germans can sign up with any insurance fund.
Japanese Health care Model

Japan heavily relies on the private hospitals and doctors where the bills are paid by the
insurance plans. According to Reid, doctors in Japan are the most competitive and the most
capitalist. Advertisements are everywhere on buses, billboards, subways and on airwaves. In

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Japan, medical care is so cheap and readily available that most Japanese visit the doctors every
now and then. For instance, unlike in the United States and in France, Japanese visit doctors
about 14.5 times annually. This is three times as in U.S. and twice as often as in any country in
Europe. The Japanese health care model use technology more than it is used in the U.S. for
instance, Japanese get twice more CAT scans per capita as the Americans get three as many
scans using MRI (Reid 81). The number of hospital beds is twice as those in the U.S. in Japan,
the average hospital stay is about thirty six hours while that of the united States is six hours.
The Japanese health care system model has led the surgery fees to be very low, thereby
encouraging Japanese patients to be quick in having operations such as the transplants,
arthroplasty or heart bypass. Unlike most other health system models, Japanese system model
provides care to all the residents within the nation at minimal fees, excellent results and without
waiting lists (Reid 82). Unlike in the U.S and France, the costs of health care in Japan are about
8% of the country’s GDP. In comparison to German’s model, Japanese are required to all buy
insurance while Germans excuse the high earners (Reid 86).
Just like in the United States, a patient in Japan pays 30% of the bill as a co-pay while
70% is paid by the insurance company. Japan is one nation with the most insurance plans.
Unlike in German that has 200 sickness funds and 14 plans in Germany, Japan has 3,500 health
insurance plans. There are 3 types of health insurance plans in Japan including those of large
companies that cover their employees, for people working in smaller companies and for retirees
as well as the self-employed. Everyone is required to have a health insurance plan. The health
insurance companies in Japan exist to pay the medical bills and not making profits for the
investors.

The Health Care Model in the UK

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According to British National Health Service, Beveridge’s design indicates that no one is
supposed to pay medical bills. This is the Health care System model used in the UK. In the
model, there is no payment of insurance premiums, no fee and no co-payments. All the bills are
paid by the government. However, there are few private health insurance plans which very few
people are interested with. About 90% of the Britons get their medical services from NHS.
People live all their lives without paying medical bills to the doctors. However, Brits make
payments via a network of taxes. For instance, the sales taxes in the UK average to 17.5% on
anything bought. The social security as well as the income taxes are higher in UK that in the US.
The model provides a single national system with less paperwork and without billing (Reid 97).
The UK model provides a cost effective means of providing medical care to all the
citizens. The system cares for about a fifth of the US population but spends about one fifteenth of
the health care bill in the United States. It is a kind of a system where government owns
hospitals, buys medicine, pays doctors and covers each bill. The system has been adopted by
countries all over the world by dictatorships as well as democracies. The United States of
America has also copied the model so as to provide treatment for Native Americans, dependents,
military personnel and veterans (Reid, 98).
One problem with UK’s health care system model is that people see it as a free service by
the government and they therefore use a lot of the medical care. NHS strives to keep the costs
low in order to continue keeping the service free. The model does not have a fee-funding
mechanism, no bills or billing offices, no bureaucracy and no administrative costs. These also
ensure that the model remains as a means of providing care and not for making profits.

Canadian Health Care Model

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The health care system model used in Canada was pioneered by Tommy Douglas. In the
model, anyone who requires health care can get it without making payments. The health care
system insists that no Canadian should die because of not affording a doctor. The model has
ensured that Canada maintains the best health statistics than United States. The country has a
healthier longer life expectancy and lower infant mortality rates. The model helps the country to
achieve all that at approximately a half of the cost per Capita of the system in the United States
(Reid 115). In comparison to the United States’ 17.5 %, Canada spends about 10 percent of the
country’s GDP on health care. Such spending makes the Canadian health care system to remain
with a good number of doctors always.
However the waiting times in Canada are high even though they vary according to the
type of treatment that one is waiting for. For instance, orthopedic surgeries keep most people
waiting for long in Canada. Canada’s government financed Medicare program is also referred to
as a single-payer system. However, Canada has a 13-payer system where each of the ten
provinces in the country as well as the three territories operate their own Medicare plan (Reid
120). As a greed control mechanism, there is a law that set five principles that each province is
supposed to follow. Each health insurance plan in the hospital must be operated by a public body
on a not-for-profit basis, every plan must pay for only the medically necessary services, there
must be same access for every resident of the province, the plan has to pay for coverage that can
be accessed anywhere within the country and doctors must treat everyone on same fee (Reid
121).

Obamacare

ObamaCare, also referred to as the Affordable Care Act is the United States health care
law of reform that makes expansions and improvements to the access to care as well as curbing

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through taxes and regulations. The act was signed by president Obama into law on the 23 rd march
2010, which is why it was referred to as ObamaCare. The main focus of ObamaCare is the
provision of access to the affordable health insurance by the Americans, improvement of the
U.S.’s health care quality and health insurance, regulation of health insurance industry as well as
the reduction of the expenditures in health care within the United States (UpCounsel).
Advantages of Obamacare
The act assists families, small businesses and individuals with costs. The act considers
that families do not have equal resources, therefore some families require more resources than
the others. ObamaCare has also provided people with choice freedom. People have can decide
which insurance policy they can easily afford. In the open-role duration, the online marketplace
is left open for every American. The Act also offers guarantee on any insurance cover used.
ObamaCare allows young adults the privilege of staying with their parents for up to 26 years.
Some resources are also underway to avoid wasteful spending (UpCounsel).
Limits of Obamacare
ObamaCare mandates all the employers to pay insurance fee for all its employees as from

2016. The law/policy forcefully demands the employers to give out $20,000 annually for an
      employee’s insurance which may not be affordable for each of the operational firms in the
      United States. There has also been the adjustment of taxes and everyone is entitled in paying
      them. Obamacare also takes care of anti-social mandates that requires religious organizations to
      ensure they provide free sterilization, contraceptives and free abortions to employees which
      might contradict with some religions (UpCounsel).
      Republicans’ opposition to Obamacare

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Republicans argue that ObamaCare kills senior citizens, children and women because
they are not eligible in the workplace that sponsors the healthcare benefits. However, the
republicans are conservative and dislike ObamaCare because it forces firms to spend more for
their employees. The opposition by the Republicans aims at reducing the spending by the
organizations. The republicans also think that ObamaCare is one among the unsustainable
programs by the government to try and help the needy, which is among the cruelest of many
broken promises that have been made previously (UpCounsel).

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Works Cited

Reid, T. R. The Healing Of America. New York: Penguin Press, 2009. Print.
UpCounsel,. “What Is Obamacare? Learn More About Obamacare On Upcounsel”. UpCounsel.
N.p., 2016. Web. 1 Apr. 2016.