Week 11 Reflection -- The Cure That Works

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Dr. Flynn's lecture has honestly changed my perspective on America's health care system significantly. Prior to his lecture, I had no idea how inefficient our system in place is and I fully believe implementing Dr. Flynn's advice into the United States would bring many benefits to both citizens and our government as well. Dr. Flynn begins speaking about how unique the United State's health care system is compared to most other countries; the statistics over our government's health care budget suggest our country has some serious realigning to do. Singapore government's annual 5% monetary contribution towards health care does not even compare to the United States government's 18%; if we were to adapt Singapore's methods, America's government could designate significantly more money towards other important obligations such as our defense system, which only receives an annual 4% currently. One topic I appreciated Dr. Flynn addressing was the mention of how it is commonly misunderstood in order to practice the same health care system as Singapore, we would have to implement their culture as well. Dr. Flynn went on to explain how this could not be further from the truth, as we can experience the same health care system without any association with their cultural habits, as it is completely unrelated to their funding for health care. It is so important for our nation's success to understand while we may have some more efficient practices/developments in our economy than others, there are still other nations who may have better ideas in place; it is our job to understand what truly works best for our country's well being, then apply the best option in a larger scale for ourselves. To understand how Singapore is able to achieve such impressive, low health care costs, Dr. Flynn explains keeping the competition in health care practices high leaves patients with more choices on where to go and receive care, as hospitals/clinics must now compete with one another to offer greater experiences for every customer. I had never thought of how hospitals/clinics in the United States know they will receive payment for their services from the third party, diminishing the importance of pleasing patients to their best ability. In order to eliminate the bring Singapore's system to the United States, we would have to completely decentralize health care. No more allowing hospitals to bill directly to insurance companies (leaving patients completely out of the loop), but health care would become a market based practice. As Dr. Flynn mentioned, "markets work everywhere" and there is no reason this truth can not be applied to health care as well.

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