Healthcare Comparisons: France, Italy, and United States
All nations have their own individual design, process, as well as practice when it comes to running their healthcare systems in accordance with specific needs and resources available. Since 2001, France’s health care system has been ranked as the best out of 191 nations by the World Health Organization listing of top countries for quality healthcare. Italy ranks Seconds, while the United States the lowest of any industrialized nation ranked 37; however, this information was last updated before the Affordable Care Act. As indicated by Rodwin, (2013), through a mix of ambulatory care, which is, made up of both private and public coverages, any individual who resides in France for at least 183 days a year is legible to healthcare services. On the other hand, in Italy, an individual can access healthcare service without being a citizen. According to Scott and Prather (2018), in Italy, a national authority is accountable for correspondence of with cost-effectiveness criteria for the mass provision of healthcare. It can there be argued that the French and Italian healthcare systems biggest difference with that of the United States is mass service provision.
Another difference between the French, Italian, and United States healthcare services is that the two aforementioned European systems are focused on illness prevention while the US system is based on treatment. It should be noted that the hospital structure in the three nations is not entirely different; for instance, both have general hospitals, trauma centers, as well as other specialized hospitals such as rehabilitation, children’s, and senior hospitals. Nevertheless, the difference comes from the resources that are employed in each health care facility, meaning, the U.S system uses much of the resources available to treat illnesses rather than tackle cause. The Italian medical system goes as far as setting standards on public meals, particularly fast foods (Toniolo, Mantoan, & Maresso, 2012). Therefore, it can be suggested that the second most noticeable difference between Italian and French healthcare systems as compared to the U.S is structure.
Reference
Rodwin, V. G. (2013). The health care system under French national health insurance: lessons for health reform in the United States. American Journal of Public Health, 93(1), 31-37.
Scott, M., & Prather, F. (2018). Global health systems: Comparing strategies for delivering health services. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu
Toniolo, F., Mantoan, D., & Maresso, A. (2012). Veneto Region, Italy. Health system review. Health systems in transition, 14(1), i-xix.