Personal financial planning - Essay Example

Personal Financial Planning The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical discussion on various healthcare models. The format that this paper will utilize is to first identify the model, describe some of its key features and then discuss how it relates to the healthcare in the U.S. today. Bismarck: The Bismark healthcare system owes its history to the German Chancellor (Otto Von Bismarck). This healthcare system is somewhat based on the model of a government welfare state as implemented by the chancellor.

Funding for the healthcare system comes from a kind of insurance that is largely funded by employers, employees, and the government which would be familiar to many Americans. However where this healthcare system differs is that the insurance would not be run for profit and healthcare is provided to all people. Beveridge: This system of healthcare owes its namesake to William Beveridge who helped spearhead reforms in Great Britain’s National Health Service. Ultimately funding was to be drawn from taxpayers so the healthcare system becomes a government run institution (Like the fire departments, police forces, schools etc.) Many doctors and hospitals would be run and paid for by the government, and there would be private doctors & specialists who would receive payments from the government.

Some hospitals (Such as veterans hospitals) may be run like this in the U.S. but overall this does not closely resemble the overall American system. Medicare: This loosely resembles the Canadian model which is sort of a hybrid of both the Bismarck and Beveridge systems. There exists both a private sector provider (Bismarck) but funding also comes from the government which draws its funding from the tax base (Beveridge). So in essence there is no real incentive to deny claims insofar as there is no incentive to generate a profit.

This closely resembles the American model insofar as there exists a private and public service, however where they differ is in regards to where the funding comes from. Out of Pocket: This healthcare system is probably the most simplistic. All medical treatments are paid for (directly) by the individuals who receive the treatment. There may be some sort of private insurance run within this system but it would be for profit. The immediate drawback from this model is that if one does not have money, one would not receive medical treatment.

This does somewhat relate to the healthcare system in American because there are many people who have low incomes that may not qualify for Medicare/Medicaid and that do not earn enough to pay into a health insurance policy. From this perspective, all medical expenses would have to be paid “Out of pocket” by the individual.