Comparative Analysis Essay: US Vs. Australian Healthcare Systems

Compare and contrast the United States Healthcare System with the healthcare system of Australia. Examine each country’s care process, access, administrative efficiency, equity, and healthcare outcomes. Formulate an opinion, through your research, about whether you believe the United States or the country you have chosen to research has a better healthcare system.  Consider discussing how the United States as a whole can improve the healthcare system.  Back up your opinion with 3 outside academic sources.

Use this Context/Resrource for research: https://interactives.commonwealthfund.org/2017/july/mirror-mirror/ and https://shorturl.at/agjLX

Solution

Comparing and Contrasting the Health Systems in Australia and USA

Australia and the United States are two different countries that differ by their healthcare systems. According to data from Commonwealth Fund International, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the World Health Organization (WHO), Australia ranks better in healthcare systems based on five main domains; care process, access, equity, administrative efficiency, and healthcare outcomes (Schneider et al., 2021). Australia provides quality healthcare services through national public health insurance scheme, Medicare which is affordable to all citizens. On the hand, United States provides health insurance through private and public covers such as Medicaid and Medicare. Whereas, Australia has been ranked third overall in the healthcare fundings, there are some gaps that need to be addressed to improve access, quality, and efficiency of healthcare services (Tikkanen et al., 2020). Notably, the U.S Health care system is costly compared to Australia and had been ranked relatively poor. However, the United States has good performance on care process attributed to quality patient safety, engagement, and prevention. Australia has poor performance on access to care attributed to long waits for hospital care in elective procedures and outpatient appointments (Schneider et al., 2021).

Australia has ensured equity in healthcare system ensuring low-income and minority individuals have access to healthcare services by ensuring services are distributed equitably across the country and low fees for the public health insurance coverage (Tikkanen et al., 2020). Meanwhile, the U.S has several financial barriers that restrict low incomes individuals from accessing healthcare services, thus contributing to high income disparities and poor rank on equity. The federal government plays a crucial role in controlling healthcare services, for instance, the Australian government supports federal healthcare program and policies such as Pharmaceutical Benefits Schedule (PBS) and Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) (Tikkanen et al., 2020).

Meanwhile, the U.S federal governments also supports healthcare programs such as ACA, but it has also been associated with healthcare restrictions to coverage and cot capping prescription drug prices (Schneider et al., 2017). Lastly, U.S has poor performance on healthcare outcomes attributed to high infant mortality and low life expectancy (Stephenson, 2021). Australia delivers quality health care outcomes contributing to high life expectancy and low infant mortality.

In essence, Australia has better healthcare system than the U.S. The U.S can focus on improving quality, access, cost, and efficiency to improve the overall healthcare system. The U.S needs to re-evaluate the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to increase affordability of public health insurance coverage and ensure healthcare practitioners are empowered to improve the care process, access and healthcare outcomes. Conclusively, the federal government need to invest in funding and policy formulation to ensure the implementation of effective policies and programs that address the underlying healthcare challenges.