Healthcare in the United Kingdom & US

1743 Words4 Pages

The United Kingdom Consists of Northern Ireland, Scotland, England, and Wales and the capital is London. It is culturally diverse and struggles with the same issues as the United States does with multiculturalism. The United Kingdom functions as a Parliament system and their healthcare system is supported by central taxation, and some funding by private grants and charities. Whereas, the United States health system structure is complex and funds are based on employers, private payers, foundations and charities. Medicare and Medicaid are funded by taxes.

Foundation

The (NHS) National Health Service was founded in 1948, with the belief that no one should have to pay for healthcare regardless of their financial status and based on three core principles; that it meets the needs of everyone, that it is free at the point of delivery, and that it be based on clinical need, not the ability to pay. In 2011, the NHS published a constitution of seven principles to help guide it. Today the NHS has grown to be the world’s largest publicly funded health service. England Is the only one that officially goes by the National Health Service, but they are all still referenced as “NHS” and you can access information regarding anyone of the health plans on a public website www.nhs.uk. The individual systems are:

• National Health Service (England)

• Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland (HSCNI)

• NHS Scotland

• NHS Wales

Principles and Values

As of April 1, 2010, many changes in the health care structure is changing. Many of these changes are reorganizing the responsibilities of who makes the decisions on how services are commissioned, the way money is spent and issuing more involvement from local authorities and opening up comp...

... middle of paper ...

...ompanies will let you take money out of each check during your pregnancy and save it for when you are off just to have some kind of income coming into the house. (How long is)

Summary

The United Kingdom has had the centralized health care system for many years and they spend half the costs in health care than the United States, they are organized and have many resources available to their patients to help with their healthcare system. The Obama administration has the right idea for healthcare, but the cumbersome process to transition to this type of healthcare is going to take time. If the United States could be able to organize their foundation in such a matter as the United Kingdom has and find a way to shift costs to general taxation, then they could focus on organizing patients and healthcare providers and services to start pulling towards the end goal.

Open Document