Comparison between the private healthcare system and the universal healthcare system in the U.S.

Abstract

The United States is one of the most developed countries in the world, but unlike most other developed countries, it does not have a universal healthcare system that provides easy and equal access for all people and communities regardless of ethnic and socioeconomic status. The private healthcare system in the United States not only drives higher costs of illness but also provides a lower quality of services than those of the universal healthcare systems. This paper compares the private healthcare system in the United States to the universal healthcare system from three perspectives: hospitalization, health insurance, and administration cost. And it finds that since the healthcare industry has higher entry barriers than most other industries, industrial monopolization appears as new businesses could not enter the industry easily, which leads to a high cost of illness. Also, the quality of services in the private healthcare system may not be guaranteed due to the lack of government direct control of fund distribution, service quality, and horizontal integrations. Furthermore, the new healthcare technology may also benefit from the universal healthcare system as a result of better resource allocation. This study indicates that the universal healthcare system may benefit care access and population health.