American health care reform: An international perspective

The United States has recently considered a nationalized health care plan. The impetus for this endeavor was the growing concern over increasing health related costs and the problem of equitable coverage for everyone. This endeavor is not new as the problems of coverage and rising costs have been addressed by nations world-wide. The solutions implemented by these nations have varied. Some of these health care plans have been in place long enough for evaluation. This manuscript examines the following issues. The first is an examination of nationalized health care plans implemented by other nations. Specifically, a comparison of Canada's, Sweden's and Britain's nationalized health care programs is presented. This analysis examines how successful these countries have been in solving their health care problems. A similar analysis for the United States is then presented. Following this, is an examination of previous changes in the American health care system of the 1980s. The reforms of the 1980s are analyzed to determine where they failed in curtailing health care costs. Suggestions for future health care reform are then forwarded. So is there an answer to rising health care costs? What is in store for countries considering nationalized health care programs? We attempt to provide some insight to these questions and others. This effort is certainly not the last word on health care economics, but hopefully it will provide some direction for new research and new avenues of solutions for consideration by interested parties.