Essay On Public And Private Healthcare

Undoubtedly, healthcare services can maintain or improve both physical and mental health of individuals and it is crucial for all the citizens. Therefore, a majority want to receive free and approachable healthcare service irrespective of their social background, age or health status by the government. However, a well-organized and effective free healthcare system is complicated to provide to the public and the government will face enormous challenges and dilemmas when they authorize the citizens to access essential healthcare without charge. This essay discusses two different healthcare systems in the United Kingdom and the United States, and analyses the effectiveness and efficiency of both free public and private healthcare. It will be argued

In the United Kingdom, National Health Service (NHS) provides a comprehensive range of health services to all the residents (Aspalter et al, 2012, p.21), however, numerous of British against a rise in income tax to pay more towards the NHS since the systems are primarily funded from the taxation. According to the publication from NHS England (2013, p.15), NHS has provided a much more comprehensive and sophisticated range of treatments for the citizens. New medicines, technologies, and therapies have made an indispensable contribution to curing disease and extending the quality and length of individual’s lives. Although NHS has enhanced the healthcare service to the public, the cost of free healthcare service has increased and eventually falls on taxpayers. From 2014 to 2015, the basic rate of income tax cost the average income taxpayer approximately £11.00 per month, and it will increase to £12.50 in 2016 which occupied nearly 9% of a resident’s gross income. (NHS England, 2012, p.21) With the high taxation, the citizens will have less money to purchase necessity; as a result, it will diminish their living standard. In the United States, the healthcare service is provided by various distinct organizations and the citizens of the

With the “free” access to healthcare service in British, patients can utilize the healthcare service repeatedly no matter how serious disease they are undergoing, hence, it precipitates longer waiting times for those who have actually needed. The statistical data, collected by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, illustrated that 88 percent of emergency patients were given treatment or admitted within four hours, which is outweigh the NHS target, at 95 percent (Triggle, 2015, no page given). Also, the official data published by the NHS England demonstrated that approximately 2.9 million of the UK residents are on the waiting list requesting for therapy at NHS hospitals, unfortunately, the average waiting time for therapy is currently 5.7 weeks in 2012 (Collins, 2013, no page given). Apart from the prolonged waiting list, free healthcare service in the UK is facing the insufficient hospital beds problem. A recent report from OECD figured out that 84 percent of hospital beds were unavailable at any time, which is much higher than Europe countries and the performance of British is substandard (Donnelly, 2014, no page given). Facing those dilemmas in the British, the patients in the UK cannot receive the