Comparison of Australian and US Healthcare Systems

Running Head: HEALTHCARE SYSTEMS
Healthcare Systems
Name
Institution

HEALTHCARE SYSTEMS 2
Healthcare Systems
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Background......................................................................................................................................4
Comparison of Australia and US Healthcare Systems....................................................................5
Healthcare Costs and Funding Sources........................................................................................5
Governmental Legislation by Australia and US..........................................................................8
Health Coverage and Financing...................................................................................................9
Health System Governance........................................................................................................11
Conclusions....................................................................................................................................12

HEALTHCARE SYSTEMS 3
Introduction
Healthcare delivery across the world has become a hug investment. Costs have got up
dramatically over the few decades. The elevated costs of delivering healthcare coverage have
become a primary problem for several nations comprising the modern developed countries, like
the United States (US) and Australia. These two nations responded in different means to use
legislation as a too of taming the increasing costs in the healthcare sector (Edwards & Landon,
2014). Both the US and Australia healthcare systems are multifaceted with diverse models of
care along with practice. The US has recorded poorer health in spite of spending more on
healthcare as compared to its peer nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD). Accordingly, it is often claimed that the US cannot be easily compared
with other countries because of different factors that include geographic size along with the
racial diversity. Australia, an Anglophone immigrant country with huge geographic size had the
same life expectancy after birth in 1970s; however, has continued to improve, while the health
statistics have stagnated (Bouwstra, Wattel & de Groot, 2017).
The healthcare system in Australia is supported by Medibank, which was established in
1984. The Medibank is a universal health insurance scheme, which offers for treatment in public
healthcare facilities in addition to subsidizes healthcare in the community through offering a
refund for health consultations plus clinical diagnosis. The main metropolitan regions have huge
private health organization, with around 40 per cent of the citizens having private health
insurance. Thus, the funding of the Australia healthcare system is complex, with finances
originating from the state and federal governments, health insurance firms, as well as person out-

HEALTHCARE SYSTEMS 4
of-pocket contributions. Similarly, the US has a broad array of healthcare schemes, which differ
amongst different states, with the majority healthcare financed by some kind of health insurance
scheme, totally privately or government-funded. The American government established
Medicaid and Medicare plans in 1965 to offer healthcare to its people aged 65 years and above
plus to lower-income patients, correspondingly (Raparelli, Pilote, Krumholz & Dreyer, 2018).
The paper will compare the Australian healthcare system and the US healthcare system
by drawing different elements of the systems to understand the differences in both healthcare
systems.
Background
At the moment, Australia has a universal national healthcare care scheme called
Medicare that was re-organized in 1984. The country has a two-tier healthcare system: private
and public. In Australia, around 57 per cent citizens select to have private health plan that may
complement allied healthcare services, plus dental and allow access to private healthcare
facilities. The Australian regime does advocate that those people who receive over definite brink
get private health insurance plan to mitigate disastrous loss. Differently, the US that has a
scheme of marketplace fairness, Australia has a healthcare system of social justice, which
considers all citizens must have basic healthcare (Esmail & MacKinnon, 2013). Presently, there
is a primary apprehension for the Indigenous people of Australia plus these people attaining
basic healthcare because of their rural setting plus self-dependence on the land to sustain them
spiritually plus physically. It is important to understand that same ideas, which assisted to craft
the culture of early Americans. Additionally, Australia has a highly centralized centre for