What key policy and socioeconomic factors contribute to healthcare disparities in the United States and the United Kingdom? - Comparative study

Oboulo Int.

Order the writing of a tailor-made Sociology & social sciences Thesis

Free quote online

Dissertation Format .docx

What key policy and socioeconomic factors contribute to healthcare disparities in the United States and the United Kingdom? - Comparative study

Download

Read an extract

Themes

Healthcare, health policy, United States, United Kingdom, healthcare accessibility, socioeconomic factors, healthcare system, disparities, public health

Reader
Abstract
Contents
Extract

Abstract

The health care system in the United States appears as a complex and multi-layered system that includes a mix of public and private entities. Unlike many other developed countries that have adopted universal health care systems, the United States relies primarily on a privately owned system , since 66% of American citizens do still reckon today with private health insurance coverage. [...]
The United Kingdom (UK), however, has a publicly funded health care system known as the National Health Service (NHS). Established, just after World War II, in 1948, it serves, today, as a prime example of comprehensive and publicly accessible health care (Brandish et al., 2021). The NHS is the primary health care provider in the UK, mostly tax-funded based, and free at the point of use for residents, which means that universal equal access is one of its main features. It is, thus, a publicly funded program that focuses on providing equal access to health care for all citizens, regardless of their income. [...]
The United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK) health care systems embody, today, two different models, presenting inherent differences in access, quality, costs, and specific health outcomes to overpass. Since these two systems have to face a series of challenges to offer better health care performances, we may retain as necessary to investigate their differences, either in terms of processes or in terms of achieved results. This is why the aim of this study is to examine the factors contributing to health disparities in the US and the UK by examining key indicators.

Introduction
1. Background of the research
2. Statement of the problem
3. Research questions
Financing models and healthcare accessibility
1. Comparison of private insurance in the US and public funding in the UK
2. Healthcare accessibility overview
Healthcare current policies and coming challenges
1. Two radical and opposed political visions
2. Consequences of these different views
3. Reviewing and finding ways of improvements
The impact of socioeconomic factors on health care
1. Healthcare systems facing internal and external factors
2. Recent challenges to be addressed
Elements of conclusion

Get this table of contents for free after login.

Extract

[...] Other factors such as a growing need for long-term service and care coordination are challenging the US system. Global figures do reckon on an imperfect health care policy since infant mortality was reported among one of the highest in the richest countries in 2005 while the obesity rate still dominates the international data lists according to the American College of Physicians (2008). B. Recent challenges to be addressed Since the NHS has been reformed in different, sometimes opposite directions since the 90s, the quasi-market reform view on it has introduced some major shifts which embody a move into the initial vision and universal care offer. [...]

[...] - FERLIE, SHORTELL, SM (2003). Improving the quality of health care in the UK and US: a frame work for change. Milbank Quarterly. - FISCELLA, FRANKS, GOLD, MR, CLANCY CM (2000). Inequality in quality: addressing socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic disparities in health care. Jamanetwork.com. - GLOUBERMAN, ZIMMERMAN, B (2002). Complicated and complex systems: what would successfully reform of Medicare look like? Researchgate.net. - GLOVER, SH, MCCLEARY KJ, RIVERS PA (2003). The rising number of uninsured Americans: how adequate is our health system? [...]

[...] The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, March 2012, 25 (Suppl 1). - SCHUSTER, MA, MCGLYNN EA, BROOK, RH (2005). How good is the quality of health care in the United States? The Milbank quarterly. - STARFIELD, B (1992). Primary care: concept, evaluation and policy. Works.swarthmore.edu. Oxford University Press. - STARR, P (2013). Remedy and reaction: The peculiar American struggle over health care reform. Yale University Press. [...]

[...] As such, GPs play a significant role in managing patients' health, referring them to specialists and managing preventive care. Secondary care includes specialized services provided by hospitals and other health care organizations. Generalist referrals are usually made by GPs or other primary care providers. However, if the NHS is funded primarily through taxation, the government implies a significant part of its budget to those services. In the UK, health care appears as a dispersed issue, meaning that each region (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) manages its own healthcare system, deciding the territorial expansion of the health offer, to some extent. [...]

[...] Statement of the problem The United States and the United Kingdom health care systems embody, today, two different models, presenting inherent differences in access, quality, costs, and specific health outcomes to overpass. Since, these two systems have to face a series of challenges to offer better health care performances, we may retain as necessary to investigate into their differences either in terms of processes or in terms of achieved results. This is why, the aim of this study is to examine the factors contributing to health disparities in the US and the UK, by examining key indicators. [...]

docx