Thaiknol

Healthcare is the general term used for the entire area of prevention, treatment and cure of illness and disease using the services of medical experts and resources. The World Health Organizations definition is a little different and refers more to the prevention of sickness and services to promote this, in addition to intervention that should be available to a single individual as well as a whole population. Any collective group of medical professionals and facilities dedicated to providing this would be termed a healthcare system.

Before the expression health-care became common, English-speakers referred to medicine or to the health sector and spoke of the treatment and prevention of illness and disease. Most developed and even developing nations have a system of health care for all to cater for those who cannot pay. Of course the first country wide health care service started in the United Kingdom in 1948 and was called The National Health Service being the first to be organized and funded by the government.

A system second to this, according to The WHO is the one initiated in Italy where a compulsory system of insurance which the administration funds, but at a relatively low cost per individual, is used. Two other systems like that in Italy, both using the name Medicare, one in Australia and the other in Canada were begun between the late 1960’s and the early 1980’s. Nonetheless, these systems of healthcare where everyone benefits from a government based service contrast starkly with those in The United States where almost all health care is paid for through the provision of insurance schemes or privately. The healthcare industry is considered a profession which makes use of the skills of professional health care workers who provide a service related to the preservation or improvement of the health of individuals who are injured, sick, disabled, or infirm.

Over a relatively short period of time, the healthcare industry has become one of the fastest growing in the world with an average growth rate of just over ten percent of the gross domestic product of many developed countries and is still growing, playing a huge role in the domestic economies of most countries. The United States has seen some of the largest rises and the figures in 2006 are anticipated to be the same as 2003 with over 15 percent of GDP - it is presently the biggest in the world but the increase by 2016 is anticipated to be almost 20 percent.

In The United States there are 180 million Americans who want healthcare and a recent study showed that it was the number one worry of those seeking work. The costs of healthcare in America have risen so much that General Motors had considered filing bankruptcy due to the increasing healthcare costs dragging down its auto manufacturing division. 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 America 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. Maybe the situation needs to be looked at from a different angle, one in which people are encouraged to stay fit and healthy as societies in general see a decline in the health of its populations.