Funding Healthcare System, Sharing Risk and Portfolio Theory Thesis

Funding Healthcare System, Sharing Risk and Portfolio Theory - Thesis Example 10). These processes are vital for the policy makers as well as planners who often face challenges in designing health care funding systems towards meeting the specific social, economics, and political objectives. Many countries are ever under constant pressure in issues related to social policies since they often experience increased expenditure and scarce resources. Nonetheless, the policy makers must analyze the following three options: increasing health care funding and containing costs or both. The heath care funding and expenditure crisis have introduced radical changes in the organizational and funding mechanisms within the health care sectors (Grossman, 2011; pg. 12). Since the 1970s, the cost containment is the principal driving factor in the discussion of the health care policies especially in the industrialized nations. Despite the underlying challenges in funding health care systems, an articulated and a well balance budget will provide sufficient revenue towards managing health care systems. Notably, nations have restrained themselves from bulk revenue borrowing; otherwise, economies have shift to sound economic policies with focus on revenue policies. Can these changes produce sufficient and sustainable health care funding systems? Literature Review Government or associated organizations often pay the bulk of the funding of the health care services. The major part of these funds is generated from the tax collected from the citizens of such nations. For instance, in the United Kingdom has a single payer system that governs its healthcare systems (Grossman, 2011; pg. 72). The UK taxation and health care funding system take funds directly from the government to the health care systems. In other nations like Germany and France, the government collect tax from the citizens and only fund part of the health care systems towards paying individuals and employees among other involved costs. In other nations such as America, a certain portion of the health c are system is often market based. In the market based funding systems, the health care systems are paid for by the private entities including employers and individuals. Moreover, the market-based systems require governments to provide health care to the vulnerable persons (Elton and Gruber, 1999). For example, in the United States, it is the responsibility of the federal government to fund health care systems towards supporting the disable and the elderly through its federal supported Medicaid program. On the other hand, the federal and state supported Medicaid program aims at covering the health care services for the low-income earners. These two different health care funding approaches have their different distinct applicability within the health care sector. Individuals and private organizations generally deliver the market-based systems. Moreover, a part of the systems is usually subjected to a certain level of competition. Market base funding systems is often open to many suppl iers, providers, and payers as well as persons with insurance that aims at serving their specific medical needs (Glied and Smith, 2011). In such funding mechanisms, doctors may be given a benefit of practice as a guideline that direct them of when and what different treatment to be applied; however, they are ever free in making care decisions depending on