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Review Of The Documentary 'Sick Around The World' By T. R. Reid

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In the documentary, “Sick Around The World” by T. R. Reid. Reid talks about the United States Health Care System and how the American healthcare system is severely inefficient and too expensive for many Americans. He goes on to state that the United States spends about 15% of its GDP (Gross Domestic Product) on healthcare while other countries spend far less and are more efficient with health care quality. Furthermore, he states that the American health care system can improved by implementing different policies that would make health care in America cheaper, and more efficient. He does this by comparing five different health care model from five different countries. The first country he speaks about is England. In England there is no premiums and copays. Likewise, no English citizen pays for medical expenses. The state comes in and pays …show more content…

In Germany, there is a 10 euro copay every 3 months. Additionally, every German citizen has health care even if they lose there job. Furthermore, hospitals are in the private sectors. This leads to many choices of doctors and hospitals. The German healthcare system has been successfully executed by the taxing the rich through there income. Although there is some wait time, there is not as much wait time like the English Health care system. In addition, in the German health care system nurses, doctors, and insurance companies are unable to make as much as they would in the United States. The fourth country he speaks about is Taiwan. Taiwan learns from the mistakes of other countries in the topic of health care. Therefore, the Taiwanese system is similar to the Canadian system. For example, all citizens have a card that contains all there medical history. If a citizen uses the card more than 20 times in 3 months he/she will get a visit by the bureau of national health insurance. On the other hand, there is free choice of doctors with no waiting time and no
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Reid, the author explains that Americans believe numerous myths about the health care system of other countries. For example, Americans believe, “They ration care with waiting lists and limited choices” (p. 231) but in contrast to this myth, Reid proves that Germany stands at or near the top in all comparative health care studies. Because the supply of hospitals and doctors is ample, there’s no ‘queue’ for treatment; on measures such as ‘waiting time for emergency care’ and ‘waiting time for elective/non-emergency surgery,’ Germans spend less time waiting for care than Americans do. Patients can choose any doctors or hospital, and insurance must pay the bill.

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With significantly lower healthcare costs, other developed nations have achieved comparable or even better health outcomes. Therefore, it is crucial to compare healthcare systems across nations to identify each system's advantages and disadvantages

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Introduction: Affordable health care, which is what everyone wants. In the documentary “Sick around the World” the host T.R. Reid travels to several countries to learn about their unique healthcare systems and how they work. Now in the United States we have the Affordable Health Care Act or what some people call the Obamacare which was passed into law on March 23, 2010 by President Barack Obama. (HHS). Since then it has been shrouded in controversy and debate among the American public and within members of our government system.

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Healthcare to its citizens is not provided in the United States as the rest of the modern world does. Rather than ensuring coverage for all citizens, it relies on a based market organization system that in which

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With the proposed tax adjustments and the payment plan involving both the individual and employer, Senator Sanders’ health care plan becomes not only viable but also cheap when held against most Americans insurance deductibles. Compared with most so called first world countries, the United States as a whole spends far more on healthcare; “At 17.4% of GDP in 2009, US health spending is half as much again as any other country, and nearly twice the average”(OECD 1). OECD stands for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which includes such countries as Britain, Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands among others. The fact that the U.S. spends comparatively more than these other “socialist” countries displays that having a streamlined, national healthcare system can in fact be run without breaking the bank or creating unmanageable costs.

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Developed countries around the world have embraced the universal healthcare, with America being the only exception. Access to healthcare is considered one of the most important things for the progress of a country. However, many people in America consider that the healthcare system in the country is quite inefficient. It is estimated that more than 45 million Americans have no medical insurance.

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(For those who are retired, unemployed, or in poverty, other plans are designed to offer coverage, such as Medicare and Medicaid.) It is not clear that this is an ideal, or even efficient way to offer health care. Because it is illegal for a hospital to turn away someone in need of health care, many who are not insured receive their health care at emergency rooms, which is the most expensive form of treatment. In short, the American health care system is one of the most expensive in the world, yet it achieves outcomes that are regarded by many as substandard. (Thus, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, the United States spends twice as much on health care per capita [$7,129] as any other country, yet ranks 30th in infant mortality and 50th in life expectancy [ http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/]).

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The growing premiums and deductibles seem to have a growing effect on people who struggle with paying for a regular hospital bill or prescription. In some cases, like for Janice S. from the article Bitter Pill, who struggles with the idea of saving money for future expenses if her Medicare can’t pay for a part of her bills as a nearing senior, “They could be required to pay premiums based off their incomes, with the poor paying low premiums and the better off paying what they might have paid a private insurer.” It’s a cross roads, but with a German model, there is a different scenario. There is an option in germany that allows people to pay their premiums based off of their own incomes that goes to several insurance companies, these funds are established as “sickness funds”. These sorts of funds lead to competition between doctors; especially, since there are times where doctors feel underpaid.

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Citizens in other countries like Germany, Canada and many more, are willing to pay higher payroll taxes for a better health care2. These European countries have systems that are way more effective by providing lower costs and offering more services but their payroll taxes are close to 37% where as a US worker pays about 15.3%3. Based on these high taxes, Europeans do not worry about the costs of health care since they are already paying it and are happy about it. Countries like Germany and Canada have higher longer life expectancies and lower infant mortality

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