Equity in Medical Care
The healthcare system of any country is normally weighed down by a lot of problems which runs the whole scope from funding to the number of available physicians. Finding a middle ground is an almost impossible task. New Zealand’s healthcare structure while far from being perfect, places high on the list of efficient health systems.
Martin Shore generously contributed this post for us. He is the main author of Ultrasound Technician Training and also writes regularly for other sites like Radiology Technician Schools in California and Ultrasound Technician Course and many other topics. He has done extensive research on the impact of diagnostic procedures to healthcare delivery systems and is quite enthusiastic about sharing his discoveries. His views are expressed in this article although it’s not exactly the same as the views of this site’s owners.
The secret of its seeming success probably lies in the hybrid design. This form has been adopted in an effort to marry both the budget requirement and the health needs of the general population. The majority of the expenses is shouldered by the government but it is helped in a minor way by private payments.
The original design for NZ’s healthcare was universal in nature. Over time, experience dictated that in order to sustain the program and still be able to offer quality care, the leaders had to find means to help it along. And so, the mixed public-private system of delivering care was born. The creation of other governmental agencies like the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) also helped to redirect those requiring specialized care. The ACC’s reach takes on expenses for all accident-related cases, even extending coverage for tourists who are visiting the country provided of course, that they have legal papers with them.
The current system can be considered superior if compared side by side with that of the US. Right now, it’s too early in the game to assess what kind of performance the new health care bill, the ACA, will have on the US health system but judging from the ruckus that the political parties are raising up, it might take awhile to see it fully in action. Now that’s one system that’s better funded, the question is, if their political parties will give it half a chance to work.
The strength of NZ’s health system is that it covers a broad range of medical services that are offered free through public hospitals. Its weakness involves the provision of services that are costly, like diagnostic imaging or cases that require major operations. This usually involves being on a long waiting list that could take awhile to be called on, unless your condition becomes critical in which case, you qualify for emergency care.
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It is because of this persistent concern that a back up system of health insurance plans came up. These policies assume the cost of operations and treatments for enrolled individuals. Other complimentary programs include PHARMAC, a government agency that takes over the cost and regulate the use of medicines. They work on co-payments but offer subsidy for certain groups like those who have community health services card or individuals with higher health plans. Free emergency services are also available through the support of charities and a combination of public and private funds.
It is a fact that there’s still are lot of ground to cover to reach the status of having a truly efficient healthcare system. But what NZ has right now generally works and can be accessed by majority of the population. To have a system that allows you to get medical care and not have to worry if you have the funding or insurance for it is a definite advantage. It’s possibly the closest that you can get to an equitable health care system.
What we can learn to avoid from Socialist Obamacare
Socialism is a copout, as we all know. The free market should be what defines our options in this world – and never was there a greater champion of this idea than the capitalists of America. But recently, US President Barack Obama has forced the acceptance of a universal health care option.
This is going to bloat their already endangered government, despite the fact that it will create number of jobs in the healthcare and nursing fields. The current state of New Zealand’s healthcare system is woeful – the public is forced to pay for what the private sector should be able to provide. Sure, there are private clinics at the moment if your wait time is too long in the national system, but the burden this places on taxpayers who have no need for public medicine is incredible.
Think of the number of jobs that could be created by privatizing our entire system, the way the United States has always done. I’ve always been in favor of job creation, especially in the healthcare field – nurses are some of the most diligent workers that exist in any field, whether they’re a certified nurses aide or a psychiatric nurse practitioner. We end up hurting the public by making them wait, in some cases, years to get a simple echo that could be done within a week by a private healthcare provider. The main argument, though, is about job creation. Socialized medicine provides some health nursing jobs, absolutely, but they are all at the taxpayers expense. As everyone wants a sweet cushy government job that it’s impossible to get fired from, we wind up with bad nurses who don’t care about their patients. Not all of them operate that way, but enough of them do that it’s noticeable in the system. I’m not talking about them having a bad day, but consistently poor care – especially among nursing staff – is an epidemic. Many of these nurses would have been fired if they worked for a private contractor, which would increase the demand for qualified nurses, and increase the pay for all of them. Do you know what the average salary of a nurse practitioneris? Far, far more than it should be, for the level of care they’re providing – and all at the taxpayers expense!
Just because we can now accept private care as an option doesn’t fix the system, however. The way these problems begin cause a spillover effect from the public to the private sector, causing a flood of underqualified and undermotivated nursing staff.