Singapore Healthcare vs. Us healthcare Research Paper

Singapore Healthcare vs. Us healthcare - Research Paper Example ow that people of Singapore are healthier than Americans although the government of Singapore pays only 20 percent of what the US government spends on the healthcare system. For instance, United States’ life expectancy of 78 years in comparison with Singapore’s 82 years enforce this fact. Again the mortality rate of the former amounts to around 6.4 for every 1000 births of living babies while in case of Singapore it is 2.3 deaths for the same size of group. When the number of caregivers of United States is compared with Singapore one tends to get a ratio of 9.4 to 4.2 nurses, 2.6 to 1.4 doctors, six to one dentists and 3 to one pharmacists respectively. When the healthcare spending is taken into account it leaves one with further shock because US incurs an expenditure of 15.4 percent of GDP while Singapore allots only 3.7 percent of their GDP to healthcare activities. The idea is to let people take care of their health. Singapore follows strictly policy with respect to public smoking, throwing around wastes, chewing gums and all of these activities result in fines. (Callick, 2008) However these policies have helped in enforcing the health consciousness within people. More than anything, the state funds merely 25 percent of the total health related costs incurred by the people of Singapore. Again while Singapore ends up undergoing a public expense of $381 per capita, US spend seven times of the same. The state’s strategy is so devised that finally the individuals and the employers end up incurring rest of the expenses. The Singaporean Health Ministry can be quotes saying, â€Å"Patients are expected to co-pay part of their medical expenses and to pay more when they demand a higher level of service. At the same time, government subsidies help to keep basic healthcare affordable† (Callick, 2008) The Singapore model works because the responsibility is not in the hands of the profit making insurers or the generosity of the government. It rather rests in the hand