Nowadays, life expectancy of people
is longer. Old people live longer and less baby borns. France life expectancy is approximately 78
years both in female and male. Cardiovascular illnesses and tumours are the two
main causes of death, but the death rate due to cardiovascular illnesses is one
of the lowest in the European Union. But then, what I like to highlight is more
toward the health system in France.
In 2000, WHO declared the
French system to be one of the best healthcare systems in the world. France’s
health policy, under the responsibility of central government, covers a range
of healthcare and prevention plans to protect and improve the community’s
health.
The health care for French are mostly covered by public universal
insurance (Securite Sociale) paid for by government, and covers most services
including hospital, outpatient, prescription drugs, nursing home care. It
is said that population have 100% coverage of health care costs for many health
conditions, including cancers, diabetes, and chronic illness including the
pharmaceutical treatment. Still, 92% of people purchase additional private
insurance, supplemental insurance, for anything that is not covered by the
public insurance. Approximately half of the supplemental insurance is funded by
employers, while the other half is paid individually. The federal government
funds supplementary insurance for those who cannot afford it. The Sécurité
Sociale, covers most services from hospital care, outpatient services,
prescription drugs, nursing home benefits and other. The complementary
insurance generally refunds any co-payments associated with the basic
insurance, and enables the basic insurance to fully cover some services that
otherwise would be only partially covered, such as dental and optical care.which
helps cover co-payments and services not covered by Securite Sociale.
The system are substitution
mechanism, where the rich will pay more taxes than the poor. The population who
is not covered by Sécurité Sociale,
such as the unemployed will get universal health coverage (couverture maladie universelle, or CMU. The interesting part is
that a person’s Securite Sociale card contains the patient’s electronic
medical record. It is efficient, where doctors in every region are able to
access the information of the patient. When it is scanned at a health care
facility, electronic funds are quickly deposited into the patient’s bank
account as reimbursement for the appropriate portion of any fees associated
with the visit. This will ensure the health access to all people in France.
In term of health delivery, France has three types of medical institutions: public hospitals, private not-for-profit hospitals, and private for-profit hospitals and clinics. Private for-profit hospitals and clinics focus mainly on minor surgical procedures, while public and private not-for-profit hospitals offer a wide-range of services.
The supply of hospitals and
medical technologies is sufficient to avoid the common issue of waiting times
in other nation. Waiting times in the hospital is managed well, where the
patient will be allocated for certain time, and they will come based on the
time allocated. The waiting room is comfortable. And one survey showed that
most French are satisfied with the proximity of available health services,
although slightly more than a third of those living in rural areas stated that
specialist services were not located close enough. In rural areas, however,
there are fewer providers and hospitals. But still, the quality service is not
that different between each region, and health is accessible. Back in
Indonesia, it is a different policy due to our decentralization mechanism, but
basically it has the same idea for universal coverage in 2014. Hopefully it
will also take part in reaching the global health.
