Loading 
Bonanza Offer FLAT 20% off & $20 sign up bonus Order Now
Question:
The healthcare is a subject which the governments of the day in every developed democratic nation take a huge care of. As per the surveys conducted previously states the state gives a substantial share of their GDP to public healthcare. Cause the better the healthcare and its results the stronger is the society in terms of economic developments. The right of health care and its efficiency is being compared to two nations here, Singapore with Korea. Both are developed nations and have got their own public health policy. Nevertheless, the Appendix would give a comprehension about how the systems and its offerings differ in these two nations. The articles implies the difference of healthcare in the aforesaid nation from various perspective to get an understanding which system is better in terms of offerings and cost over other.
South Korea is the 26th largest populated state in the Globe with an area which is 126th in the Global ranking of area for each nation. Hence, the density of population in this nation is huge in South Korea. The difference of South Korea to Singapore is briefed in a short detail. The statistics presented by (Ifitweremyhome.com, 2016) suggests that if South Korea is compared to Singapore then it is likely that 68.4% of people are unemployment in Korea compared to Singapore. The age of death is 4.5years lesser for a Korean to a Singapore resident and makes 46.8% lesser income with infancy mortality rate of 55.3% and have a 1.98% more fertility rate over the Singaporean counterparts. Nevertheless, the statistics also shows that a Korean needs to pay less or spend 29.8% lesser money on healthcare to their Singaporean counterparts. Singapore has developed affordable healthcare for its citizens in the Public Health Systems and makes the savings, subsidies and price control a priority over its counterpart, in this case Korea ("Compare Singapore To South Korea", 2016).
The Singaporean policy has a major distinction in its healthcare policy over South Korea where the medical services come at a cost in the public healthcare system so that the overutilization of medical facilities are restricted for the most urgently care to need personnel over the rest (Pallot, 2011). Hence, a compulsory payroll deduction is used in these subsidies with a national plan for medical care called Medisave. The people are made to save for themselves for medical treatment which may then be used with their permission to accommodate people of their extended family to use in care of medical exigencies. The Pensioners or the old citizens have a scheme directly connected to their Central Provident funds which is an insurance to all cost incurred in the private healthcare facilities. However, the Medifund is a safety mechanism for those who have incurred more cost in treatment than what amount they may bear. The cost of such funds were recently reduced from 10-20% to as low as 3-10% which don’t have a lifetime scheme related with it (Feifei et al, 2012). Hence, the healthcare is costly and have plenty of risks involving the patient's cost of healthcare at Singapore when compared to the mostly government controlled healthcare of South Korean Republic ("Health Care Comparison Between Seoul, South Korea And Singapore, Singapore," 2016).
The South Korean Government treats the healthcare as a fundamental right of the citizens and gives it all for free. It’s for the efficiency of the healthcare system that the patient welfare is given more importance as being state sponsored. There are handful of Public healthcare centres and mostly have private sector playing in such a field. So a lower medical bill along with a good healthcare is at the forefront of Korean healthcare system which serves the people of the nation. The processes are fast and strategies are such that a patient gets the best of healthcare without further delay due to fast response of the medical teams in the Korean systems. The Korean systems trump the Singaporean counterparts with affordability and efficiency ("Health care", 2016).
However, the South Korean population living in Singapore has doubled to 30,000 within a span of a decade. It’s getting harder to get a job in Korea so the people are moving on to Singapore for better life and secured jobs. Thus, the Korean ageing population may have a better care measure at old age where the state takes the responsibility but it is not true in case of Singapore. However, since the healthcare in Korea is attracting lesser number of people for the future to take care of the aging population, it awaits a disaster. The aging population in the Korean culture is given respect so the family bonds keeps the olds with them but when they have to move from their own nation to other for a job the situation at home becomes unattainable. The falling fertility and rising life expectancy are features which need to be solved by both the economies. This also means that the labour force of the economies are declining so the new generation has to support more and more aged people under the retirement and healthcare systems. In here Singapore is in a good position to develop the needed labour force to look after the public health which includes the old age population. The Korean economy however is facing a pressure of shortage of manpower and thus the aging population and their care would be unbearable if steps are not taken at this point.
The people in terms of healthcare givers need to be increased by South Korea and the Singaporean has to carry on with their efforts of social healthcare policies which are paid. The difference is here as well where the paid healthcare is generating revenue to pay well for the care givers in Singapore while South Korea is struggling in this sector.
The policy differences between the two states are prominent where the Korean shows a more humanitarian aspect of healthcare to its citizens over the Singaporean system. The amounts spent on the clinical test and medication or surgery come at a cost where the mandatory healthcare savings are key to support the system. Insurance companies of the state do not give lifetime coverage but deducts it from the Medicare insurances of the personnel admitted (Haseltine, 2015). The charges may be higher which needs to be paid back to the state insurance companies who do this for maintaining an efficient service which is paid by the private individuals. The government and private healthcare density is common in both the nations but the shared responsibility of state and individual in case of sickness differs largely. However, the South Korean model has an edge over the Singaporean healthcare where the affordability and efficiency of the staffs makes the biggest difference in between the two nations (Meng-Kin, 1998).
Even after such highly subsidised healthcare system Korea Spends about 6.3% of their GDP as the pool of funds generated by the population for the healthcare funds is equally distributed among many healthcare institutes to make the treatment affordable and the low income families gets the best out of the system due to its structure (Yesin, 2006). The government of The Korean regime understood the welfare needs to be for all, rich or poor to have a consistent healthy society in the nation. This gives the Korean health care close the widening gap of income difference between the personnel in the population and makes it worth for all to afford such treatments in the nation ("Healthcare in South Korea", 2016). The picture is different in Singapore as the employer and employee together may bear the cost along with medi-claims as proposed in the previous parts gives this a ground to prove its strengths better over other nations, in this case Singapore ("Our Healthcare System | Ministry of Health/Singapore", 2016).
However the gaps are there where the South Korean hospitals is lacking trained staffs and doctors in the modern day and try to work fast in the case so to give best care, fast and prompt. Such may cause a difference in outcome in Korea compared to Singapore since the lower staff ratios are more significant over the Singaporean system of cost oriented treatment for people who comes to health care where they get the best outcome for money invested. The propensity of error is theoretically major in Korean system which has lesser trained staffs and caters to a large population without a detailed consultation over the medical issues and complexities of a patient regarding healthcare. This may cause adverse results at times where the chance of the same is lesser in Singapore where payments determine the level of care and cure of the citizens there. The Korean case is that each of the citizens gets a state-sponsored medical Insurance which is more towards affordability. In the case of being employed the Employer and employee shares the bills in a 50:50 ratio, while it is completely free for a citizen who is unemployed or poor (Park et al., 2010).
The Korean system of heavily subsidised healthcare is possible due to its effective low cost mechanism and single payer systems where the hospital gets the payments in advance where every resource generated from the national insurance schemes. This restricts the administrative bills and costs which is unique and the Singaporean model may try and adopt this in various parts of the national healthcare models. The income gap won’t matter for the Singapore Citizens if the Korean model is adopted. However, Korean doctor’s earnings are lesser than their counterparts as the Administrative costs are to be brought down low. This is a major setback for the Korean healthcare sector as the people in the student life lose interest to peruse their careers as doctors. Further, the quick decision making has made the doctors prone to mistakes as well as the future of Korean healthcare seems bleak as new generation of medical professionals are reducing with each passing day. The Doctors are paid on the basis of how many patients they attend each day which makes it a process where the Doctors have to work fast and rapidly to resolve each case and go for other in line.
The Singaporean contribution from GDP for Healthcare is 1.5% to Korean counterparts which invests 6.3% of its GDP in public health. However, due to the quick service delivery process, the line of patients or delay in response is not encountered in Korean systems where the entire cost is borne by the National Medical Fund along with government support for free treatment irrespective of economic status (Park, 2008). The cheap consultation fees and subsidies in medicine in the first step for an effective public health system in Singapore as are established in Korea. The solution of the problems of Singapore is the cost of treatment which can be further translated to a low cost system with government intervention. Some may afford and some may not where a medical card can be issued by the authorities. This card would be based on the income declaration of the citizen with specific numbers for each citizen. These are first steps in administrative sphere to reduce the expenses in regard to the healthcare for the poor of the nation (Lee, 2003).
A constructive approach to reduce the patient inflow for no reason can be reduced with cheap consultancy fees at a ground level to reduce the rush and crowding of the Public or private hospitals. The welfare clinics in various parts of the nation may help the cause. There are lot of scopes for strategic improvement of healthcare to citizens in Singapore. However, South Korea is no different and has its own share of problems. The generation of the future is not guaranteed to take up healthcare as profession since the payments are related to how many patients they treat and not in success or several other aspects of treatment like outcome or care. The people associated with the profession would see a sharp decline if the professional’s benefits are not given enough attention (Kwon, 2003). The hospital facilities along with treatment record is similar in both the nations but the future planning in strategic aspect is lacking. The people of the new generation have to be encouraged to join the profession and the only way to make it happen is a significant payment for the medical staffs of the nation (Adao & Silva, 2014).
Previously as suggested, the prognosis and diagnosis of the patients are concerned, Korean systems are prone to mistakes for their motive of seeing as many patients as possible for a limited time. This can be changes with a salary based approach for each healthcare unit in that land and would encourage people to opt for such profession (Thow, 2009).
The South Korean and Singapore healthcare is similar regarding its hospital facilities, the density of them with the highest amount of technical and medicinal skills supporting them. However, the difference is that Singapore is investing very less in terms of its GDP earnings to healthcare which makes the citizen pay for the treatment cost which at times are unbearable for the poor. Hence, a suggestion of disinclination of citizen’s expenditure is more likely to be seen as a solution. Generating subsidy medical card to each individual citizen based on their income is necessary in the Singaporean model. On the other hand the Korean model needs an inward look of the payments of healthcare stuff to generate more interest among the new generation to go for healthcare as profession.
Adao, B. & Silva, A. (2014). Government Financing with Taxes or Inflation. SSRN Electronic Journal. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2395815
Compare Singapore To South Korea. (2016). Ifitweremyhome.com. Retrieved 23 September 2016, from http://www.ifitweremyhome.com/compare/SG/KR
Feifei, L., Xiaoteng, L., Bai, Y., & Segiang, S. (2012). Healthcare System in Singapore.Assets.ce.columbia.edu. Retrieved 23 September 2016, from http://assets.ce.columbia.edu/pdf/actu/actu-singapore.pdf
Haseltine, W. (2015). Affordable Excellence The Singapore Healthcare Story. Moh.gov.sg. Retrieved 23 September 2016, from https://www.moh.gov.sg/content/moh_web/home/our_healthcare_system.html
Health care. (2016). Just Landed. Retrieved 23 September 2016, from https://www.justlanded.com/english/South-Korea/South-Korea-Guide/Health/Health-care
Health Care Comparison Between Seoul, South Korea And Singapore, Singapore. (2016). Numbeo.com. Retrieved 23 September 2016, from http://www.numbeo.com/health-care/compare_cities.jsp?country1=South+Korea&country2=Singapore&city1=Seoul&city2=Singapore
Healthcare in South Korea. (2016). Expat Arrivals. Retrieved 23 September 2016, from http://www.expatarrivals.com/south-korea/healthcare-in-south-korea
in South KoreaHealthcare. (2016). Internationalstudentinsurance.com. Retrieved 23 September 2016, from http://www.internationalstudentinsurance.com/south-korea-student-insurance/healthcare-in-south-korea.php
Kwon, S. (2003). Healthcare financing reform and the new single payer system in the Republic of Korea: Social solidarity or efficiency?. Int Social Security Review, 56(1), 75-94. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1468-246x.00150
Lee, J. (2003). Health Care Reform in South Korea: Success or Failure?. American Journal Of Public Health, 93(1), 48. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1447690/
Meng-Kin, L. (1998). Health care systems in transition II. Singapore, Part I. An overview of health care systems in Singapore. Journal Of Public Health, 20(1), 16-22. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.pubmed.a024711
Our Healthcare System | Ministry of Health. (2016). Moh.gov.sg. Retrieved 23 September 2016, from https://www.moh.gov.sg/content/moh_web/home/our_healthcare_system.html
Pallot, P. (2011). Expat guide to Singapore: health care. Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 23 September 2016, from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/expat-health/8831080/Expat-guide-to-Singapore-health-care.html
Park, K., Song, S., Lee, W., Yoon, H., Koh, H., & Kim, C. et al. (2010). The Results of Nation-Wide Registry of Age-related Macular Degeneration in Korea. J Korean Ophthalmol Soc, 51(4), 516. http://dx.doi.org/10.3341/jkos.2010.51.4.516
Park, Y. (2008). Revisiting the welfare state system in the Republic of Korea. Int Social Security Review, 61(2), 3-19. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-246x.2008.00307.x
Song, Y. (2014). The South Korean Health Care System. Retrieved 23 September 2016, from https://www.med.or.jp/english/journal/pdf/2009_03/206_209.pdf
The dire reality of "universal health care" in North Korea. (2016). Dailynk.com. Retrieved 23 September 2016, from http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?num=13238&cataId=nk00100
Thow, A. (2009). Trade liberalisation and the nutrition transition: mapping the pathways for public health nutritionists. Public Health Nutr., 12(11), 2150. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1368980009005680
Yesin, P. (2006). Financing Government Expenditures Optimally. SSRN Electronic Journal. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.929711
Upload your Assignment and improve Your Grade
Boost Grades
