Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Research Paper Example Even with the government allocating relatively low funding to the national health care as part of measures to cut costs, Israel still managed to build a quality health care system ranked among the best in the world. Among the different medical areas, the country has performed exceptionally well in the diagnosis of chronic diseases thus preventing frequent hospitalizations unnecessarily. Such include cases like diabetes, which usually receive appropriate attention and early diagnosis significantly reducing the rate of complications as well as chances of hospitalization (Brinkley, 2007, p. 27). Government’s commitment and dedication to ensuring a healthy nation has been a key input to the success of the program. One other reason why proper execution of healthcare programs has yielded fruit is the fact that Israel benefited a lot from the influx of doctors and nurses from the former Soviet Union in the 1990’s though most are now aging and exiting from the profession. The c ountry’s health care is based on universal coverage, substantial federal government control and oversight and is a managed healthcare system. The country’s health care model requires citizens to be members of one of the four insurance plans. The plans are by law mandated to meet certain minimum service quality requirements and are not expected to reject clients simply because of certain preexisting conditions (Brinkley, 2007, p. 20). Even though the management of healthcare has been such a success, several areas of improvement have been suggested from various quarters. One such area is the expansion of the assessment of medical data by insurers from community health fund clinics to include monitoring improvements in care. Additionally, hospitals have also been urged to enhance the quality of treatment and accessibility of hospital data by healthcare professionals. There has not also been enough competition among providers of healthcare and also on quality among health care funds. Increased competition in these areas has been proposed as another avenue for better health care in the country. In terms of equity in care provision, there are a number of gaps based on ethnic groups and between the rich and the poor. To enhance accessibility to care and improve equity, additional efforts are inevitable. The Israel and the American Healthcare Systems The American healthcare system is majorly a public private partnership arrangement with a majority of Americans covered by their employers. There are more than 5000 hospitals in the United States majority operating as nonprofit private entities. A good number of Americans did not have health insurance but with the enactment of the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act (PPACA), the number without insurance is projected to significantly reduce. Both the American and the Israel health systems employ both public and private sources of funding with a mix of government and non-governmental organizations. Both sys tems are among the few in the world that utilize extensive use of competing managed care organizations though faced with shortages in healthcare professionals particularly physicians and nurses (Brinkley, 2007, p. 23-24). One of the notable differences between Israel’s and America’s healthcare systems is the issues of financing and coverage as well as cost control in health