Among many advanced industrialized countries, the US health care system operates on a vastly unconventional paradigm. Unlike most countries in Europe and America the United State does not possess a unified healthcare system. In 2008, 48 percent of the country’s health insurance expenditure came from private funding, with 28 percent coming from households and 20 percent coming from businesses. This reality pivots the health care sector as a hybrid multi-faceted system.

Other OECD Countries

Unlike other OECD countries, the United States notably spends more on its health care system—on the average, according to (Schieber, Poullier, and Greenwald 1991) more than twice as much per person (except Norway and Netherland) as other Organization for Economic co-operation and development that includes 34 member countries.  The OECD countries are generally advanced or emerging economies.  This seeming dysfunction is attributed to the high cost of health care in the US.

While there is no one widely agreed causative for the high-cost of healthcare in the US, experts have identified a number of contributing factors. The first is the said to be the high cost of new health technologies and prescription drugs. In 2013, the US expenditure on pharmaceutical drugs and other non durable medical care was staggering $1,026 per capital more than double the OCED average of $515.

Another giving reason for high-cost is the rising instances of chronic diseases such as cancer and obesity. Patience with chronic illness in their last 2 years of life account for total medical spending, much of it going towards physician and hospital fees associated with repeated hospitalizations. Lastly, high administrative costs are a contributing factor to inflated cost of US health care. It is difficult to determine the exact differences between private administrative costs, in part because the definition of ‘administrative’ varies widely. In January 2013, a national program implemented under the Obamacare began. The aim was to improve administrative efficiency by allowing doctors and hospitals to bundle billing for an episode of care rather than the current ad hoc method.

Americans and the High Cost of Healthcare

 Inarguably, the multi-faceted healthcare system in the United States leaves most citizens bankrupt. A survey on bankruptcy filed between 2005 and 2013 found that medical bills are the single largest cause of consumer bankruptcy, with between 18 percent and 25 percent of cases directly prompted by medical debt. Universal coverage in some European countries makes bankruptcy derived from medical expenses negligible.  The need to unburden the purses of Americans through pragmatic health care policies that are both effective and all inclusive is more than necessary in increasing the life expectancy of the American people.

The Way Forward

There is no better way to lower the high cost of health care than to look critically at the systems of other countries that are able to provide affordable health care for their citizens at reasonable costs. Among the OECD and countries and other advanced civilizations there exist three main types of health insurance programs:

Single-Payer System

This system works with a single government entity acts in the capacity of the administrator to collect all health care fees and pay out all healthcare costs. Medical services are publicly financed but not publicly provided. Denmark, Canada and Sweden operate on the single-payer system.

Multi-payer system

 Or all-payer system provides universal health insurance via ‘’sickness fund’’ used to pay physicians and hospitals at uniform rates, thus eliminating the administrative cost for billing. Germany, Japan and France adopt this system.

 National Health Insurance System

Government and salaried-physicians deliver medical services in this system, in hospitals and clinics that are publicly owned and operated by the government through tax payment. There are some private doctors but there are specific regulations and they collect their fees from the government. Spain, New Zealand and the UK adopt this system.

Adopting any of these methods of health care will align the United States along other global countries whom have been able to provide readily available health care to their citizens at reasonable cost that does not inflate government health expenditure, as well as incite bankruptcy among citizens.