Running Head: France Vs U.S.

Healthcare System 1

Comparison Between France and the United States Healthcare System

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France Vs U.S. Healthcare System 2

Comparison Between France and the United States Healthcare System

Introduction

The healthcare systems of France and the U.S. are ranked to be among the

top healthcare systems in the world. However, each of the countries faces a wide

range of problems that deter them from giving the best form of care to their patients.

When it comes to patient access to affordable medical care, France does way better

than the United States (Morabito, 2019). The two countries also have some of the

best treatments and technologies that can produce great patient outcomes. It is

these forms of technologies that make treatment even more expensive. When it

comes to spending on healthcare, the U.S. spends more than does France, but they

end up having worse outcomes (Tikkanen & Abrams, 2020). The world health

organization requires a good healthcare system to have a proper financing system,

the workforce to be properly trained and well paid, the healthcare facilities should be

well maintained, and have access to proper information that they could base their

decisions on.

France

The world population review ranked France to be the country with the best

healthcare in the world. The life expectancy in France is 82.7 years, but after 65

years, half of the people above that age often have a chronic illness or a disability of

some type. The preventable mortality rate of France is 133/100000, while the

treatable mortality is 63/100000 (OECD, 2019). When it comes to the risk factors,

Smoking is accounted for by 25% of the population, obesity 15% and alcohol 12

litres. All the risk factors are above the OECD average. When it comes to the

healthcare system, France has increased its spending on healthcare at a constant

France Vs U.S. Healthcare System 3

rate over the years. By 2017, the country was spending approximately 25% more

than the OECD countries average (OECD, 2019). The spending is, however, justified

since their healthcare system is quite effective, especially when it comes to saving

people that suffer from acute conditions (OECD, 2019). However, the same cannot

be said when it comes to preventable illnesses, since the preventable mortality is

higher than a lot of the OECD countries but lower than the OECD average.

Access to medical care in France is generally good but limited in rural and

deprived areas (OECD, 2019). However, to mitigate the inadequacy of healthcare

facilities in these areas, the country now encourages multidisciplinary practices and

gives more roles to pharmacists and nurses.

What makes the French healthcare system to be ranked among the best in

their use of the social health insurance (SHI) system to provide adequate healthcare

access for all (Morabito, 2019). The SHI covers the entire population by demanding

various forms of funding that have proved sustainable. Initially, the universal

insurance system covered people in terms of professional activity, but now it covers

people in terms of residential areas.

In 2017, the public insurance scheme covered approximately 78% of the

people that went to seek medical care, while private insurance covered 5% (OECD,

2019). The revenue from the compulsory insurance schemes come for employers

and employees, income taxes, and tax collected on items such as alcohol and

tobacco.

When it comes to private practice in France, autonomous physicians mainly

treat ambulatory cases. The patients can choose the physician that can treat them,

have direct access to specialists and have high levels of patient-doctor

France Vs U.S. Healthcare System 4

confidentiality. Most of the physicians in the French health care system work in the

public sector, and are salaried (Dutton, 2016). In France however, the medical

practitioners earn approximately two times the average earnings in French, which

explains why the country’s healthcare system is less expensive when compared to

the American system (Dutton, 2016). The lower pay is more acceptable since in

France medical school is free even though they make it really hard for students to

get admitted, and they have a tort adverse legal system that reduces the amount of

liability that the doctors have to bear which means that they do not have to have high

malpractice insurance.

United States

The world population review ranked the United States as 37 th healthcare

system in the world. In the United States, life expectancy at birth is 78.6 years,

against the OECD average of 80.7 (OECD, 2019). the avoidable mortality rate of the

country is approximately 262/100000, against the OECD average pf 208/100000.

When it comes to the risk factors in the country, smoking accounts for 10.5 against

the OECD average of 18, Obesity 71% against the OECD average of 55.6%, and

alcohol 8.9 litres per capita compared to the OECD average of 8.9 litres (OECD,

2019). The United States spends more on healthcare than any other OECD country

both as a percentage of the GDP and as the cost per capita. While the high spending

does not provide the population with a chance of living longer since the life

expectancy is lower than the OECD average, most people in the United States

consider themselves to be quite healthy (OECD, 2019). When it comes to chronic

diseases such as stroke, heart attacks, and cancer, the United States has a 90%

survival rate in a length of 5 years, which is not common among the other countries.
France Vs U.S. Healthcare System 5

When it comes to insurance coverage, the Medicaid program covers

approximately 60-65% of the American population, since it is only meant to cover

low-income citizens of the country. The system caters for approximately 40 million

people and costs approximately $330 billion (Bourne, 2014). Medicaid follows

closely, as it is supposed to cater to the elderly and other special groups, and covers

approximately 44 million people in the country and costs approximately $432 billion

(Bourne, 2014). The rest of the population can get their insurance from their

employer, a family member's employer or they could buy their own private health

insurance (Bourne, 2014). However, with the implementation of the affordable

healthcare act, the government has been able to reduce the amount of spending on

healthcare, and make sure that the citizens have better health outcomes after

attending a health facility.

Private practice in the United States is also very common, especially when

dealing with ambulatory services, and the citizens have direct access to specialists

and high levels of patient-doctor confidentiality. The American physician is paid an

average of five times the average income in the U.S. However, medical school in the

United States is very expensive, which means that a lot of the doctors graduate

school while in debt and have to take time to pay off their student loans. They also

have to pay for their malpractice insurance, since they are very likely to be sued and

bear a lot of liability.

Conclusion

The healthcare system in France is much better when compared to the United

States. In France, citizens have universal healthcare, which means that the number

of uninsured citizens is reduced substantially. In America, the system takes care of

France Vs U.S. Healthcare System 6

the poor and the elderly, which leaves the younger generation vulnerable since they

are unable to afford the form of care they deserve. When it comes to patient

outcomes, the two countries compare the same (Dutton, 2016). France is very good

at making sure that they alleviate any preventable and treatable deaths, while the

United States was very good at taking care of people with chronic illnesses. Finally,

the health care workers in the United States are paid much better than in France, but

the workers have to pay for their college debt and malpractice insurance which takes

away the pleasure of earning money (Dutton, 2016). The France medical education

system is free, albeit harder to enter. Therefore, the French healthcare system is

better than the American one.

France Vs U.S. Healthcare System 7

References

Bourne, Jennifer. (2014). The health care dilemma: comparing France and the US.

My French Life. Retrieved from

https://www.myfrenchlife.org/2014/03/20/health-care-france-vs-

us/#:~:text=America%20vs.,money%20doesn't%20mean%20quality&text=As

%20to%20the%20individual%20costs,spends%20only

%20%244%2C086%20per%20capita.

Dutton, Paul. (, 2016). HEALTH CARE IN FRANCE AND THE UNITED STATES:

LEARNING FROM EACH OTHER. The Brookings Institution. Retrieved from

https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/dutton.pdf

Morabito, Charlotte. (, 2019). France's healthcare system was ranked as the world's

best—Here's how it compares with the U.S.'. CNBC News. Retrieved from

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/17/france-versus-the-united-states-how-the-

two-nations-health-care-systems-compare.html

OECD. (, 2019). HealthCare at The Glance-United States. Retrieved from

https://www.oecd.org/unitedstates/health-at-a-glance-united-states-EN.pdf

OECD. (, 2019). State of Health in the E.U.: France. Retrieved from

https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/docserver/d74dbbda-en.pdf?

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Tikkanen, Rosa., Abrams, Melinda. (, 2020). U.S. Health Care from a Global

Perspective, 2019: Higher Spending, Worse Outcomes? The Commonwealth

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Fund. Retrieved from https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-

briefs/2020/jan/us-health-care-global-perspective-2019

World Population Review. (, 2021). Best Healthcare In The World 2021. Retrieved

from https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/best-healthcare-in-

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