Η μεταρρύθμιση του αμερικανικού συστήματος υγείας

Abstract

The purpose of this master thesis is to analyze the problems of the United States of America’s health care system by 2010 and to highlight the need for reform. An additional purpose of this paper is to analyze the aims and the provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as well as its impact on insurance, affordable health care, containment of health expenditure and the quality of provided health care. The methodology that will be followed will be the review of Greek and foreign language literature as well as reports from international organizations such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the World Health Organization. In the first chapter we describe the aims and forms of the various health systems, and we analyze the health systems of five economically developed countries, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany and the Netherlands. In the second chapter we present the United States of America’s health system, as well as its problems that have necessitated reform, such as the problem of the uninsured, the high health care expenditures, the medical errors and the poor performance on indicators in relation to other OECD countries. In the third chapter we present previous efforts for health system reform at federal and state level and the aims and provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as well as its impact on insurance, health expenditures and the quality of provided health care. In the last chapter we present the conclusions of this thesis.