Health Care in the U.S. And Spain

What Can the U.S. Learn About Health Care from Spain?

In 2009, Spain's single-payer health care system was ranked the seventh best in the world by the World Health Organization (Socolovsky, 2009). By comparison, the U.S. health care system ranted at 37 (Satiroglou, 2009). The Spanish system offers coverage as a right of citizenship that is constitutionally guaranteed. Spanish residents pay no expenses out-of-pocket, with the exception of a few select services. They do pay for drug costs themselves and many complain about long waits to see specialists to get certain procedures. However, on average the Spanish health care system ranks better than that of the United States in many categories. Almost everyone is an agreement that the U.S. health care system is in need of serious reform. However, deciding exactly what these reform should be as a point of contention among providers,...
[ View Full Essay]