Essay On Spain Health Care

Introduction Spain and the United States (U.S.) have two very distinct health care systems. For this reason, Spain was the country chosen to compare their health care system with that of the United States of America. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) (2014), Spain ranked in the top ten lists coming in at seventh place, ranking ahead of the United States. Spain offers universal health care coverage as a constitutional right; however, citizens have the opportunity of purchasing an additional supplemental insurance (Seaman, 2009). In Spain, patients have the option of seeing the health care providers they prefer and as often as they want, with no co-payments and no claim forms to fill. Even the undocumented immigrants are treated in Spain (Socolovsky, 2009). This is very beneficial for those living in Spain, because when they are sick or have a health problem, they can get treated stress free by a health care provider. In Spain no one is turned away or denied care, even if citizens become unemployed, short of money, or in need

is very expensive, and yet in many local hospitals there are nursing shortages. In many rural areas, there are also physician and nursing shortages (Holtz, 2008). Physicians and nurses are paid well for their jobs in the U.S. there is just an increase need of more health care providers. There are major health disparities in the U.S. amongst different races, ethnicities, and socioeconomic statuses (Holtz, 2008). People who are poor, or of low income, probably will not have the health care they need, and have a higher chance of having a mental illness in comparison to those from higher economic status (Holtz, 2008). With that, it is clear that there is an uneven distribution of health care in the United States. Lessened minorities are less expected than the greater minority to have good health care, with less opportunity to access diagnostic examinations, medications, and surgical practices (Holtz,