2022 IB Diploma Extended Essays

fund” via tax or to an independent, state -owned, government organisation, or insurance

company (Wallace, 2013). The public are then able to choose which healthcare plan they pay

into. This ensures that the government do not have a significant role when selecting a

person’s health care scheme , creating a decentralised health care system (Chandrashekhar T

Sreeramareddy, 2019).

On the other hand, the National Health Service (NHS) is the health care model of England.

This system is a combination of both the Bismarck model and another health care model

named the Beveridge model. The aim of this health care model is to reduce health costs for

all citizens through a state-funded government system. The government covers approximately

85% of the health care expenditure (Josh Chang, n.d.). This results in a more centralised

health care system, lending the government to more control over most hospitals in the

economy.

Due to this centralised health care system, the English government was able to shut down

services such as elective surgeries as well as non-essential screenings and allocate their

resources towards treating patients suffering from SARS-CoV-2, decreasing the availability

of mammograms in this economy (Stephen W. Duffy, 2022). On the contrary, the

decentralised system allows individual Swiss cantons to assess what is best for their own

region. Though some cantons paused mammogram screenings, people were able to drive to

the neighbouring cantons to receive their biannual mammogram if they wish. In this case, the

jeopardization of future public health is less substantial as in the English economy.

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