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hailtoyourvictor · 08-15-2016, 07:00 PM

FWIW, here is the list of the biggest issue I felt a few other countries that we covered faced:

U.K.:

The biggest issue that the NHS faces is sustainability. The costs the NHS have exceeded budgeted tax revenues, much like what’s happening with the Medicaid/Medicare systems in the U.S. The problem is that free health care is so popular among UK citizens that reform is not an option. Instead, the only real ways to sustain the health care system is by increasing taxes to cover costs.

Russia:

The biggest issue Russia is facing is lack of funding and an entirely too complex payment/reimbursement system. Because of the complexity of the payment system, there is a considerable amount of illegal, “under-the-table”, payments being made. Some patients are even having to provide their own medical supplies (bandages, needles, bedding, etc.) during hospitalization.

Japan:


Japan’s biggest challenge health care challenge, by far, the aging population in the country. To put it in perspective, consider the problems the U.S. faces as the baby boomers leave the work force and need more health care services. By 2025, the U.S. is projected to have 18.3% of the population age 65 and over. Japan is projected to have 27.4% of the population age 65 and over. The situation in the U.S. is bad, it is much, much worse in Japan. It is going to take a lot of effective innovation and planning to keep costs low enough to provide care for that population.


Germany:


Like many other nationally financed health care systems, Germany is facing an issue of an aging population. Part of the framework of Germany’s system is having enough citizens employed to cover the cost of national health care. As the population ages, there are less people working and more people needing expensive health procedures.


Australia:


Japan’s biggest challenge health care challenge, by far, the aging population in the country. To put it in perspective, consider the problems the U.S. faces as the baby boomers leave the work force and need more health care services. By 2025, the U.S. is projected to have 18.3% of the population age 65 and over. Japan is projected to have 27.4% of the population age 65 and over. The situation in the U.S. is bad, it is much, much worse in Japan. It is going to take a lot of effective innovation and planning to keep costs low enough to provide care for that population.


Korea:


One of the issues Korea faces is providing adequate health care for their rural population. Anything market driven tends to go where the money is and rural hospitals are generally not cost effective. The Korean government will have to continue to find ways to provide incentives for private-owned facilities and health care workers to provide service in these areas.


Portugal:


One problem this health care system is facing is high use of emergency departments because of the shortage of public ambulatory services. This reminds me of the issue in the U.S. with people who don’t pay for their health care abuse the use of emergency departments. Citizens couldn’t be getting the same care for fractions of the cost if they had access to primary care physicians, but instead abuse the emergency departments at the expense of the national health care budget.


Mexico:


Despite improvements being made, the biggest challenge Mexico’s health system faces is providing adequate access to its rural population. Because of the high rates of poverty of the rural, dispersed, and indigenous population, it is hard to provide access to affordable and cost-effective care.


Jordan:


A unique problem for Jordan is that life expectancy has increased dramatically. While that is a good thing, it provides new challenges to health care. The health care system was originally designed to deal with communicable disease, but now has to implement ways to deal with rise of non-communicable diseases resulting from that increase in life expectancy.


Turkey:


The biggest issue Turkey’s health system is facing is implantation and acceptance of a new health care model. The government is trying to move away from community-based holistic medicine and move towards individual-based primary care. The problem is that they are also trying to turn it into a market based system which means more out-of-pocket costs for citizens and thus isn’t getting the acceptance it needs to succeed.


Ghana:


Ghana is experiencing the problem of trained medical professionals leaving the country. It is one of the highest African countries that experiences what is termed as “brain drain”. Between 1993 and 2002, 33% of the medical professionals trained in Ghana left the country. With a retention rate that low, it would be hard for any country to expand or even sustain a successful health care industry.