Deck 14: Medical Care Systems Worldwide

Question 1

Which of the following statements is true about the Canadian health care system?
a. Many Canadians travel to the U.S. in order to receive expensive treatments.
b. Canadians have the option of purchasing private health insurance if they can afford it.
c. Canadian physicians are salaries employees of the provincial health plans.
d. Canadian hospitals have significant excess capacity that is used to treat patients from foreign countries.
e. Canadian physicians are allowed to "balance bill" patients for certain high-cost procedures.

Answer 1

Many Canadians travel to the U.S. in order to receive expensive treatments.

Question 2

The British National Health System has been "reformed"
a. twice.
b. three times
c. four times
d. five or six times
e. never.

Answer 2

five or six times

Question 3

Which of the following countries has the longest life expectancy for both men and women?
a. Japan.
b. Germany.
c. Canada.
d. Great Britain.
e. the United States.

Answer 3

Japan

Question 4

The biggest challenge faced by the German health care system in the 1990s was
a. eliminating the long waiting lists for expensive medical services.
b. integrating East and West Germany into a single system.
c. controlling overall health care spending as a percentage of GDP.
d. how to control rising physicians' incomes in the name of social solidarity.
e. how to provide high-income Germans with an effective safety valve so they will continue to support the system with their taxes.

Question 5

One lesson that American policy makers can learn from the health care systems of other counties is
a. people must be willing to accept long waiting lists for expensive services.
b. a government-run system ensures equal access across socio-economic groups.
c. the importance of having a safety valve.
d. the mix between general practitioners and specialists is of little importance.
e. private insurance cannot complement government insurance.

Question 6

The French respect individual freedoms even as they accept collective action to reach important national goals of social solidarity and equality. What has been the major cost of a government-run system in France?
a. The long waiting lists of expensive medical services.
b. The high out-of-pocket spending with over 90 percent of the population purchasing supplementary private insurance.
c. An erosion of the incomes of physicians relative to those of the average wage and salary worker.
d. An erosion of physician autonomy in making treatment decisions.
e. Both b and c are true.

Question 7

The Japanese health care system most closely resembles the health care system of _______, from which it was copied.
a. the United States.
b. France.
c. Great Britain.
d. Germany.
e. Canada.

Question 8

Which of the following is not a practice of Japanese physicians.
a. Performing a unusually large number of surgeries.
b. Seeing a large number of patients daily.
c. Dispensing medicine to their patients.
d. Accepting gifts of appreciation from their patients for special service.
e. Discharging patients from the hospital after relative short average stays.

Question 9

One major challenge of the Canadian National Health Insurance System is
a. there is more access to medical technology in Canada.
b. The population density differences in the country.
c. the monopsony power of the Canadian provincial health plans in negotiating fees with physicians' associations.
d. the fact that there is no large inner-city population in Canada to drive up costs.
e. all of the above.

Question 10

When medical fee schedules are negotiated by two monopolists-one representing patients and one representing providers-the equilibrium medical fees will
a. be greater than fees determined in a competitive market.
b. be less than fees determined in a competitive market.
c. be greater than fees determined by provider groups alone.
d. be less than fees determined by patient groups alone.
e. depend on the relative bargaining strengths of the two groups negotiating the fee schedule.

Question 11

We all know that the United States has the highest per capita health care spending in the world. Which country has the second highest?
a. Japan.
b. Germany.
c. Switzerland.
d. Great Britain.
e. France.