Privatization Of Health Care

2 Pages 521 Words

My essay will be on the topic of: Do you think the privatization of the Health care System is or will have a negative impact on the service you receive?

To consider solving this growing debate one might want to turn to our neighbor to the north Canada. In Canada, health care financing, allocation, and delivery may be public, private, or a combination of both. In Canada there is a “single tier” health care system with access for everyone irrespective of ability to pay. The “privatization” of health care in many minds means an American system of health care which is a “two tier” system that offers better service for those who can pay and poorer or no service for those who cannot. Exactly what is “privatization”? That depends on which dimension of health care you look at (financing, allocation, delivery)
Privatizing the financing of health services means shifting the burden of paying for health care from tax revenues to the private incomes of individuals through partial or complete payment for certain services. The privatization of allocation of health services involves using certain forms of market competition to determine what services are provided, who provides them, and at what costs. The privatization of delivery of health services means relying on individuals and organizations outside of government both non-profit and for profit to provide the services.
The important question is not whether something is public or private, but rather how the arrangement of public or private financing, allocation, and delivery affects costs of care, access to care, accountability for care, and quality of care. The private/public balance in health care is particularly of concern to seniors, because they are more likely to need health care then any other group. The provisions of community-based services by private for-profit agencies are a cause for concern. Under the Reagan Administration, a review of the privatization of public ag...