The expression health-care is the provision of medical facilities plus the general prevention and management of sickness using paid medical resources. Although The WHO would like to see the expression extended to include all individuals whether an individual or whole populations. Any collective group of medical professionals and facilities dedicated to providing this would be termed a healthcare system.
The expression health care has not always been used though and prior to this is it was often just referred to medicine or the health sector but this was used more by English speaking countries. Even in most developing nations there is a form of healthcare provision for everyone whether they are in a position to pay or not. It was the United Kingdom that pioneered the first population based healthcare system back in 1948 called The National Health Service run by each consecutive government.
According to The WHO, a good alternative to this system is that in Italy where insurance for health is a compulsory but is a government funded service and possibly the second best around the world. This type of system has been copied to a degree in both Australia and Canada where it is called by the same name of Medicare. These systems are almost opposite to the systems presently provided in American and South Africa although there are huge changes taking place in the system used by South Africa. Individuals who work in health care include all professionals whose job it is to preserve life, treat and cure sickness and try to improve the health of individuals. The collective expression for this is the healthcare industry but the word industry may not necessarily be the best one to use.
Over a relatively short period of time, the health care industry has become one of the fastest expanding in the world with an average growth rate of just over ten percent of the gross domestic product of many developed nations and is still increasing, playing a huge role in the domestic economies of most countries. Although in 2003 the healthcare costs paid to across the entire health care system, consumed 15.3 percent of the GDP of America, the biggest of any country in the world and is anticipated to reach 19.6 percent of GDP by 2016.
In The United States there are one hundred eighty million Americans who want healthcare and a recent study showed that it was the number one worry of those seeking work. Many large companies in The United States are feeling the effects of these rises in healthcare provision and an extreme case was where the car giant General Motors was seriously considering bankruptcy because of it. Fortunately, negotiations between the Union and GM management made a deal to reduce some of the benefits but keep operating as usual but the were force to sell off their under performing finance arm GMAC.
Workers in The United States place this as their number one priority when looking for a potential employer and often will move to a lower paid position just to better their medical care. The health of the individuals on this planet should be something that is founded on prevention rather than cure, a case of being proactive as apposed to reactive.
Article Source: http://tinyurl.com/mzc3uk and see Affordable Health Care
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