Strengths and weaknesses of the French healthcare system

French Health System

The French health care system is based off of a model of universal coverage and fee for service. This is when everyone is provided with support and must a pay a portion of the expense. Under this program the government is covering 70% of the costs. While the rest, is provided through private insurance or the individual making up these expenses. The results are that this is accounting for 11.7% of GDP growth. However, like all systems a number of criticisms are highlighting the overall problems. To fully understand what is taking place requires carefully examining the disparities and financing. Together, these elements will highlight its strengths and weaknesses. (Taylor, 2012)

Country's Health Disparities Issues

The French healthcare system is focused on preventive medicine. This means that different therapies are provided which are designed to reduce the chances of a condition becoming worse. As the costs, will start to increase dramatically and have an adverse impact on those individuals who need access to specialists. These factors are ensuring that everyone will be able to receive full medical benefits, deal with any kind of problems early and at lower prices. This is regardless of their work history or how much money they make. ("The Awesome French Healthcare System," 2013) (Torsoli, 2013)

The problem is based upon a more liberal definition of preventive medicine. Under the French model, various procedures which are not covered by traditional services are included such as: acupuncture, psychiatric visits, optometry services and hearing exams. These costs are set a fixed price and do not change from one year to the next. ("The Awesome French Healthcare System," 2013) (Torsoli, 2013)

This is creating disparities by reducing the quality of care that is provided. Under this system, doctors have no financial incentive to provide the best procedures possible. Instead, they are overwhelmed and only have so much time to work with each patient per week. This forces them to overlook quality and concentrate on finding temporary solutions to the problems. To make matters worse, the system is losing billions of Euros every single year from not raising prices to cover the costs of treating patients. This means that the government must make up for the shortfalls and it opens the door for potential abuses to occur. These disparities have led to many people going overseas to seek out the treatment they need. ("The Awesome French Healthcare System," 2013) (Torsoli, 2013)

Country's Healthcare Financing Mechanisms (e.g., Fee for Service, Free or Supported by Taxation)