Healthcare system

A healthcare system is the organization by which an individual's health care is provided.

From an economic perspective, healthcare may be viewed as just another product or service to be purchased by an individual, however, healthcare has many special characteristics that encourage government intervention to a greater or lesser extent:

The provision of critical healthcare treatment is often regarded as a basic human right, regardless of whether the individual has the means to pay—and some forms of healthcare treatment cost more than a typical family's life savings.
Healthcare professionals are obligated by their oaths of service to provide lifesaving treatment.
Consumers often lack the information or understanding to be able to rationally choose between alternative healthcare providers when they need treatment, particularly in urgent treatment.

Table of contents

1 Healthcare systems models
2 History of healthcare systems
3 See also

Healthcare systems models

Purely private enterprise healthcare systems are comparatively rare. Where they exist, it is usually for a comparatively well-off subpopulation in a poorer country with a poorer standard of healthcare - for instance, private clinics for a small expatriate population in an otherwise poor country. But there are countries with a majority private healthcare system (liberal healthcare system) with residual public service (see Medicare, Medicaid).
The other major models are public insurance systems:
- Social security healthcare model, where workers and their families are insuranced by the State.
- Publicly funded healthcare model, where the residents of the country are insured by the State.

History of healthcare systems

religious-based health systems (the Catholic system)
philanthrophy in health systems