China’s Health System

Introduce your country (the country I choose is China). Discuss the size of your country’s health sector (relative to GDP and relative to other countries). How much have life expectancy and infant mortality improved over the last half century? How does the system determine what to cover?

The Notes assignment is to respond to the above questions with 1-2 pages of written text. Bullet points are acceptable, but everything should be written in complete sentences. Please be sure to devote time to the question of how your country’s health system determines what it will and will not cover. Answering this question will likely require research outside of the readings, since the answer may be quite specific to your country’s institutions.

The optional reading lists:

Readings: • “The Best Health Care System in the World: Which One Would You Pick?” New York Times, TheUpShot: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/09/18/ups…entCollection=upshot®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&cont entPlacement=3&pgtype=sectionfront • World Health Organization. “Key components of a well functioning health system” (http://www.who.int/healthsystems/EN_HSSkeycomponents.pdf) • *A Great Resource!* Commonwealth Fund. “Health System Features.” (Available here: http://international.commonwealthfund.org/features/) • Chris L. Peterson and Rachel Burton. “U.S. Health Care Spending: Comparison with Other OECD Countries” CRS Report for Congress. September 2007. (http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcont… key_workplace) • Arrow, Kenneth J. “Uncertainty and the Welfare Economics of Medical Care.” The American Economic Review 53.5 (1963): 941-973. (http://economicsfiles.pomona.edu/marvasti/data/HealthCareClassArticles/Arrow,%201963.pdf)

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China’s Health System

China has one of the biggest healthcare systems in the world. The healthcare system in the country consists of insurance programs, private, and public medical institutions. It is estimated that at least 95% of the population has basic insurance coverage. This translates to slightly over 1.2 billion people thereby making it the biggest coverage in the world.

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