Essay 1: Health Care systems of USA, UK and Russia
The USA, the UK and Russia present three different types of financing health care system.
USA case is an insurance type where more than 50% of heath care expenditures are voluntary or
out-of-pocket. The USA is the only developed country without universal health care system.
Statistics show that 38% of the USA citizens get public coverage of health expenditures (Medicaid
and Medicare programs) and 67% get private of supplementary coverage. It is important to note
that approximately 8,8% of people are uninsured what is 28 million people. Two major changes
aimed at increasing availability happened in American health care. The first was in 2013 and
resulted in cheaper prescription drugs for seniors. The second one happened in 2010 and made
health care accessible to bigger part of population: the percentage of uninsured reduced from
16% in 2010 to 8,9% in 2016.
Other way of financing health care system exists in the United Kingdom. It is “care for all”
system where 79% of all heath care expenditures are governmental so there are narrow
differences in access to care between high- and low-income groups. Unlike in the United States,
the availability of medical services do not depend on the level of income. More than 10 reforms
were carried out in the UK health system since 1997. All of them are aimed at improving of quality
of medical services and sustainable development. Nowadays the main problem is long lines in
public hospitals resulting in inability to provide timely medical care.
Russia represents mixed type of system where both compulsory and voluntary medical
insurance exist. About 45% of all heath care expenditures are provided by government, 29% are
voluntary sources and 26% are out-of-pocket. As we see, the similarity of the Russian and British
systems in contrast to the American one is universal provision of medical care. Opposed to other
two countries the quality of medicine is lower because of low qualifications, poor standards and
insufficient funding: health care expenditures in Russia make up 5,5% of GDP (USA – 17,6%; UK
– 10%). Main reforms in Russia aim increasing the quality of medical provision and increasing the
availability of high medical technology.
Essay 2: Estimation of Russian pension system in comparison to the UK and Chile
The pension system is the basis of the social policy of any state. Let’s compare Russian
pension system to systems in UK and Chile. Average pension rate in Russia is 285$ per month
which is not enough to provide acceptable living conditions. Average rate in Chile is 350$. At the
same time this figure in the UK is 700$ per month (including private pensions) which is 2,5 times
higher. We need to consider that price level 1,5 times higher in the UK. So, we can see that
Russian system cannot support living standards at an acceptable level and social tensity
increases.
Russian pension system is mainly under government provision and it allow to control the
process of social integration. British system consists of state pensions which are guaranteed to
every elder person (but low) and widespread private pensions which give people an opportunity
to increase their overall pension by following special plan during working period. System in Chile
completely transfer responsibility for the formation of pensions to working citizen: everyone has
their own retirement account, which is replenished monthly with 10% contributions of salary. All
these funds are capitalized by a private management company chosen by the citizen. The British
and Chilean systems are strongly tied to the level of income of citizens therefore they exacerbate
the problem of social inequality. Since the variation of pensions in Russia is small, we can say that
the system is neutral to the problem of social inequality.
In the past year and a half, a new pension formula has been operating in Russia. This time
it became clear and transparent, so every citizen understands the pension calculation procedure
and can estimate how to increase state pension. But negative tendencies in Russian economy
outweigh the achievements of pension reform: increase in taxes, unemployment growth and
grey economy make people unsatisfied with government provision of public goods. Systems in
the UK and Chile are complex. In the UK there are a lot of pensions plans to choose so transaction
costs are high. In Chile there are 6 funds (AFPs) similar to each other so it’s difficult to choose
between them and workers change them frequently. But generally, systems of this foreign
countries are efficient.
Comparing Russian pension system to British and Chilean we can make a conclusion that
even though average pension in Russia is low the system allows to regulate the processes of
social integration and restrain the problem of social inequality. Therefore, we can declare that
equity is partially hold. Government tries to make Russian system more efficient but now it is
hard to achieve because of economic circumstances. Finally, we can say that Russian system is
low quality.