HSM310Project TArden

The health care systems of both France and the U.S. are faced with their own serious crises. Both countries possess large and growing elderly populations that threaten to raise the cost of health care even higher than their already faster-than-inflation rates. Observers in both countries are afraid that increasingly expensive medical treatments and technologies will wreak havoc on public spending priorities. In the U.S, unchecked health care inflation will imperil Medicare and Medicaid, spur ever-larger federal budget deficits, and push up the embarrassingly large number of Americans without any medical insurance at all. In France, already insufficient resources have influenced strikes and demonstrations by doctors, while health care price hikes put at risk the country's commitment to its European partners to maintain low budget deficits. In this paper, I will be discussing the good, the bad, the differences and the similarities between the U.S. and Frances’ healthcare systems.
The health care market suffers from several imperfections, which have motivated the government’s intervention in both the United States and France. Many of the very young, chronically ill, and older aged could not obtain medical care if it were not for government sponsored assistance or insurance. In order to remedy market imperfections and improve access to quality medical care, governments have generally taken one of two approaches: a national health service or the promotion of health insurance. Great Britain possesses the national health service (NHS); everyone has access to medical care from providers whose remuneration flows largely from the government budget. Health insurance also socializes the demand for health care by grouping consumers in order to spread risk and cost. Although the U.S. system relies much more heavily on private insurers, health insurance in both France and America is closely tied to one’s employer. This similarity is joined by other fundamental principles,