The Importance Of Healthcare In South America

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As many have stated, the healthcare system in Colombia is in crisis. The quality of healthcare is subpar, especially in the public healthcare sector. Nobody gets turned away in the public healthcare system which leads to immense hospital overcrowding and a severe decrease in quality of care (Webster, 2012). The pubic clinics and rural healthcare institutions have poorer outcomes and are far less accessible (InterNations, 2016). The private hospitals, who serve the people with contributory health insurance – those who can afford insurance, are of high quality. Although theoretically people with subsidized insurance can go to a private hospital, few people even try for they will be sent straight to the public hospitals. People with private…show more content…
The clinics in Colombia are among the best in South America and attract many people from around the globe, particularly for elective surgical procedures. In fact, Colombia has made many firsts in terms of transplant accolades such as first kidney transplant with a live donor in 1973 to the first thin intestine transplant in 2004 (InterNations, 2016). Comparison to US Healthcare Many comparisons can be made between the healthcare in the United States and Colombia but there are also many differences. There are similarities in the system, coverage, and corruption whereas there are differences in quality, GDP allocation, and healthcare as a right. Similarities The healthcare system in both the US and Colombia are a mixed market system. In fact, the system in Colombia is an attempt to replicate the US healthcare system. Furthermore, the private health insurance companies in Colombia are very similar to the managed care companies in the US (Webster,…show more content…
Approximately 70% of those that have health insurance in Colombia have contributive insurance, which can also be considered private insurance, and 30% have subsidized insurance which can also be considered public insurance (Alvarez, n.d.). Rather similarly, the US has about 55% private insurance coverage and 45% have public health insurance such as Medicare and Medicaid (KFF, 2016). The final similarity is that both the US and Colombia have corruption in the healthcare industry. Colombia has numerous corruption scandals which mostly are due to a lack of auditing and accountability. As mentioned before, billing is corrupt too since providers only do what they can bill for. Due to the corruption there are many people who can easily get rich quick and there have been bribes taken by government officials to overlook fraud. It was even found that an insurance company spent a large part of their funding on a luxury hotel and golf course and got away with it due to bribes (Webster,
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