Healthcare system

A Healthcare System is the organization by which an individual's healthcare is provided.

Whilst from an economic perspective, healthcare may be viewed as just another product or service to be purchased by an individual, healthcare has many special characteristics that encourage government intervention to a greater or lesser extent:

• The provision of critical healthcare treatment is regarded as a basic human right, regardless of whether the individual has the means to pay - and some forms of healthcare treatment cost more than a typical family's life savings.
• Healthcare professionals are obligated by their oaths of service to provide lifesaving treatment.
• Consumers, generally, lack the information to be able to rationally choose between alternative healthcare providers when they need treatment, particularly in urgent treatment[?].

Models of Healthcare Systems

• Purely Private Enterprise healthcare systems are comparatively rare. Where they exist, it is usually for a comparatively well-off subpopulation in a poorer country with a poorer standard of healthcare - for instance, private clinics for a small expatriate population in an otherwise poor country. But there is countries with a majority private healthcare system (liberal healthcare system) with residual public service (medicare, medicaid).

• The other models are the majoritarily Public Insurance Systems:
  • Social security healthcare model, where the workers and their families are insuranced.
  • National Health Service model, where the resident people in the country is insuranced.

See also

• DRGs.
• Healthcare reform.

stuff to do:

• Socialized medicine
• HMO
• Health insurance
• Social security and workplace insurance model. Accident compensation
• History of healthcare systems: religious-based health systems (the Catholic system etc) and philanthrophy in health systems
• International aid, cooperation and organization (eg WHO schemes etc).
• Healthcare professionals
• Emergency services (see also Lifeline).