C489 Organizational Systems and Quality Leadership Task 3
Jennifer Gentry
Western Governors University

A1. Country to compare and A2. Access The country I chose to compare with the United States healthcare system is Japan. Access to healthcare in Japan is fairly easy. Every individual, including the unemployed, children and retirees, is covered by signing up for a health insurance policy. They can obtain insurance either through their work or through a community based insurance. For those Japanese citizens that are too poor to afford health insurance, the government supplies their insurance through a social insurance. If a Japanese citizen loses his/her job and becomes unemployed, the individual will just switch to a community based insurance rather than a work insurance (Reid, 2008). In contrast, in the United States, if you become unemployed, you lose your health insurance. An individual can, however, obtain insurance through a private source but it is often more expensive. In 2010, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was signed into law in the United States. The PPAAC was designed to enhance coverage for uninsured or low-income Americans. This was met with much controversy since a large number of Americans felt like it was unconstitutional for the government to mandate that American citizens who were not insured by another source purchase this healthcare or otherwise have to pay a fine based on percent of income through yearly taxes. There are numerous insurance avenues for children, unemployed and the elderly in the United States; examples include, Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance companies, and Tricare which includes military personnel extending to their families (Cherry and Jacob, 2014). However, even today there are many Americans who still go uninsured, while in Japan, every citizen is insured.
A2a. Coverage of Medications