Organizational Systems and Quality Leadership

Organizational Systems and Quality Leadership

                                    How United States Healthcare Compares to Japan

United States citizens have exceptional access to healthcare but many individuals cannot afford to use it.   The cost of healthcare within the United States is two and a half times higher than that of other countries.   A large number of U.S. citizens are uninsured or underinsured.   Healthcare providers in the U.S. can charge whatever they want for procedures and they tend to only accept patients with high paying insurance premiums.   Providers in the U.S. have been known to turn individual’s down if they have a pre-existing condition.   Therefore, practitioners in the United States are able to make lots of money due to the continuation of the referral process.   In Japan healthcare providers welcome everybody.   Nobody is turned away due to a pre-existing condition and there is no referral process.     The cost of healthcare in Japan is cheap compared to the United States but the citizens have limited access due to the need for an increased number of practitioners.   Japan chooses to participate in a national healthcare system (NHS) where all citizens are provided access to healthcare.
The NHS in Japan covers everybody including children, the unemployed and retirees over age 65.   If an individual cannot afford insurance coverage the government will pay for it. The Japanese government accommodates everyone and providers are not allowed to turn anyone down.   Healthcare is cheap in Japan, they have set fees for all procedures, everyone has insurance coverage.   Japan’s national healthcare system covers everybody.   Japan has excellent affordable healthcare with outstanding patient outcomes (Japan Healthcare, 2016). .   In an attempt for the United States to adopt the idea of universal healthcare such as that in Japan, the government enacted what is known as the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare.gov).
The Affordable Care Act was introduced...