World’s Best Health Care - Ranking of Health Care by Countries – and Healthy Life Expectancy by Country
World’s Best Health Care Provider
The World’s best health care provider is France. France spends about $4000 per person per year on health care. France, with a population of 64 million is spending more than US$250 billions of government expenditure on the health care of its people.
Compulsory Health Insurance
France has a compulsory health insurance for each citizen. It works like this: you pay 5.25% of your salary or any earned income to the non profit health insurance fund. The rate is 3.95% on pensions and benefits such as allowances. The non profit health insurance fund will then negotiate with the government so that the government can offset the shortfall from its expenditure.
National Insurance Fund
When you get sick, you go to a doctor who charges you, say $1000. You pay the doctor $1000 and then you go to health insurance fund that refunds 75% ($750) of what you spent on your doctor. This means that for every $1000 you spend on doctor's or dentist's fee, you pay $250 from your pocket and $750 is paid from the national insurance fund and government funding. If you have a private health insurance policy with an insurance company, then you can still go ahead and claim the $250 you paid out of your pocket.
Pay First and Then Claim Latter
You as the patient have to pay first and then claim. This means you have the freedom to choose the hospital, the doctor, the dentist or the specialist. If you are poor, you are unlikely to seek treatment from expensive hospitals (read good treatment) because the requirement is that you have to pay first from your pocket and then seek reimbursement from the insurance fund. The hospital beds are in the ratio of 65% for public hospitals, 15% private but non profit making groups and the remaining 20% of beds are provided by profit hungry companies.
The More You Earn the More You Pay
The French health care system is social insurance model of finance which means the more you earn the more you pay. This does not mean that the more you pay the more you receive. But the rich people can afford to go to expensive hospitals where they are charged more for a better service and in return they claim 75% of the bigger medical bill. This may in a way translate to ‘the more your bill the more you can claim’.
Integrity of the Citizens
This social health insurance model that France uses has made France the World’s best health care provider. This social health insurance model is just a simple arrangement that can be copied by any other country. The fact that it has been successful in France does not mean it has to be successful in another country. A lot of success depends on the management of the fund, the integrity of the citizens and the political support the government receives from its people.
Healthy Life Expectancy
France has a healthy life expectancy (HALE) at birth of 73.1 years and a life expectancy of 81.5 years. That is a difference of 8.4 years of ‘less than full health’ where a person will need frequent medical attention.
Healthy Life Expectancy (HALE) is the average number of years that a person is expected to live in "full health" by taking into consideration the years that person will live in ‘less than full health’ due to diseases and injuries.
Life Expectancy at Birth
Life expectancy at birth is the probable number of years one is expected to live after birth. The country with the highest life expectancy is Japan at 82.6 years, the country with the lowest life expectancy is Swaziland at 39.6 years and the country with the lowest healthy life expectancy is Niger at 29.1 years. But do not worry about life expectancy numbers because these are just figures. For example: a man is 71 years old and a child is 1 year old, if the child dies, the life expectancy is (71+1)/2 equals 36 years. If more children and young people in a country are dying at an early age, then the life expectancy of that country will drop substantially.
France In Comparison To the United States
In comparison to the United States, France spends about $4,000 per person on health care whilst US spends about $7,500 per person. With that money, France has 3.4 physicians and 7.7 nurses for every 1,000 people whilst US has 2.4 physicians and 10.6 nurses for every 1,000 people. This means France has more physicians per person than US whilst US has more nurses per person than France. With such good health care in both of the two countries, France come up with a very low infant mortality rate of 4 infants per every 1,000 infants born whilst the United States has an infant mortality rate 6.7 infants for every 1,000 infants.
Niger is a Country in Africa
In the meantime, Niger is a country neighbouring Nigeria in West Africa. The population of Niger is 85% Muslims, therefore HIV – AIDS is not a big problem there. Niger has a poor health care system which lack resources and with a small number of health providers. The words ‘health care insurance’ is a vocabulary not to be found in Niger’s dictionaries. Niger spends only $5 per person per year on health care. Niger has 0.03 physicians and 0.22 nurses for every 1,000 people.
World's Highest Infant Mortality Rate
Niger has a child mortality rate of 248 for every 1,000 children. This is the world's highest infant mortality rate. The child mortality rate is high in Niger because of poor health conditions and inadequate nutrition for children. But Nature has it that because of the high child mortality, the women of Niger are blessed with the world’s highest fertility rate. Each woman in Niger is giving birth to an average of 7.2 children – if you have been thinking they can get finished, they will not.
Main Cause of Deaths
In the developed countries like France, the main cause of death is the following:
1. Car accidents
2. Cerebrovascular diseases
3. Suicides
4. Stomach cancer
5. Lung cancer
6. Ischaemic heart disease (coronary artery disease)
Contrast that with the cause of death in developing countries like Niger and Swaziland where the main cause of deaths is the following:
1. Tuberculosis
2. Malaria
3. Diarrhea
4. HIV-AIDS
5. Ischaemic heart disease (coronary artery disease)
Bill and Melinda Gates
Over the past few years, Bill and Melinda Gates have spent more than $20 billion of their hard earned money to develop vaccines against malaria, HIV-AIDS, in trying to create genetically modified mosquitoes, in purchase of millions of mosquito nets, in purchase of drugs to fight HIV-AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis for the poor countries in Africa. Some people are critical of what Bill Gates is doing arguing that his foundation should spend the huge amount of money in improving the major problem in these developing countries which is actually poverty and poor living conditions rather than trying to give free drugs and mosquito nets.
Bill Gates is a Generous Man
Bill Gates is a good man. At the first level, the problem of HIV-AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis is to have the diseases managed today and not wait for tomorrow when the living condition of the people is imagined to improve. The truth is that only those who have suffered, either directly or indirectly, from HIV-AIDS, Malaria or Tuberculosis, will agree with Bill and Melinda Gates.
Gates' Donations Are Awesome
Indeed, Bill and Melinda Gates' donations are awesome and no doubt they are highly appreciated by the poor people who receive them. The millions of free mosquito nets and drugs that Bill and Melinda Gates' foundation have funded is indeed the best gift for Africa in improving the lower Healthy Life Expectancy.
Ranking of Health Care by Countries
Below is the Ranking of Health Care by Countries together with the corresponding Healthy Life Expectancy and life expectancy at birth by country.
Rank
| Country
| Healthy Life Expectancy (Years)
| Actual Life Expectancy (Years)
| % Healthy Life Expectancy to Actual Life Expectancy
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
1
| France
| 73.1
| 81.5
| 89.7
|
2
| Italy
| 72.7
| 81.9
| 88.8
|
3
| San Marino
| 72.3
| 82.2
| 88
|
4
| Andorra
| 72.3
| 82.5
| 87.6
|
5
| Malta
| 70.5
| 79.4
| 88.8
|
6
| Singapore
| 69.3
| 80
| 86.6
|
7
| Spain
| 72.8
| 80.9
| 90
|
8
| Oman
| 60.3
| 75.6
| 79.8
|
9
| Austria
| 71.6
| 79.8
| 89.7
|
10
| Japan
| 74.5
| 82.6
| 90.2
|
11
| Norway
| 71.7
| 80.2
| 89.4
|
12
| Portugal
| 69.3
| 78.1
| 88.7
|
13
| Monaco
| 72.4
| 79
| 91.6
|
14
| Greece
| 72.5
| 79.5
| 91.2
|
15
| Iceland
| 70.8
| 81.8
| 86.6
|
16
| Luxembourg
| 71.1
| 78.7
| 90.3
|
17
| Netherlands
| 72
| 79.8
| 90.2
|
18
| United Kingdom
| 71.7
| 79.4
| 90.3
|
19
| Ireland
| 69.6
| 78.9
| 88.2
|
20
| Switzerland
| 72.5
| 81.7
| 88.7
|
21
| Belgium
| 71.6
| 79.4
| 90.2
|
22
| Colombia
| 62.9
| 72.9
| 86.3
|
23
| Sweden
| 73
| 80.9
| 90.2
|
24
| Cyprus
| 69.8
| 79
| 88.4
|
25
| Germany
| 70.4
| 79.4
| 88.7
|
26
| Saudi Arabia
| 64.5
| 72.8
| 88.6
|
27
| United Arab Emirates
| 65.4
| 78.7
| 83.1
|
28
| Israel
| 70.4
| 80.7
| 87.2
|
29
| Morocco
| 59.1
| 71.2
| 83
|
30
| Canada
| 72
| 80.7
| 89.2
|
31
| Finland
| 70.5
| 79.3
| 88.9
|
32
| Australia
| 73.2
| 81.2
| 90.1
|
33
| Chile
| 68.6
| 78.6
| 87.3
|
34
| Denmark
| 69.4
| 78.3
| 88.6
|
35
| Dominica
| 69.8
| 72.2
| 96.7
|
36
| Costa Rica
| 66.7
| 78.8
| 84.6
|
37
| United States of America
| 70
| 78.2
| 89.5
|
38
| Slovenia
| 68.4
| 77.9
| 87.8
|
39
| Brunei
| 64.4
| 77.1
| 83.5
|
40
| New Zealand
| 69.2
| 80.2
| 86.3
|
41
| Bahrain
| 64.4
| 75.6
| 85.2
|
42
| Croatia
| 68.4
| 75.7
| 90.4
|
43
| Qatar
| 63.5
| 75.6
| 84
|
44
| Kuwait
| 63.2
| 77.6
| 81.4
|
45
| Barbados
| 65
| 77.3
| 84.1
|
46
| Thailand
| 60.2
| 70.6
| 85.3
|
47
| Czech Republic
| 68
| 76.5
| 88.9
|
48
| Malaysia
| 61.4
| 74.2
| 82.7
|
49
| Poland
| 66.2
| 75.6
| 87.6
|
50
| Dominican Republic
| 62.5
| 72.6
| 86.1
|
51
| Tunisia
| 61.4
| 73.9
| 83.1
|
52
| Jamaica
| 67.3
| 72.6
| 92.7
|
53
| Venezuela
| 65
| 73.7
| 88.2
|
54
| Albania
| 60
| 76.4
| 78.5
|
55
| Seychelles
| 59.3
| 73.2
| 81
|
56
| Paraguay
| 63
| 71.8
| 87.7
|
57
| South Korea
| 65.1
| 78.6
| 82.8
|
58
| Senegal
| 44.6
| 63.1
| 70.7
|
59
| Philippines
| 58.9
| 71.7
| 82.1
|
60
| Mexico
| 65
| 76.2
| 85.3
|
61
| Slovakia
| 66.6
| 74.7
| 89.2
|
62
| Egypt
| 58.5
| 71.3
| 82
|
63
| Kazakhstan
| 56.4
| 67
| 84.2
|
64
| Uruguay
| 67
| 76.4
| 87.7
|
65
| Hungary
| 64.1
| 73.3
| 87.4
|
66
| Trinidad and Tobago
| 64.6
| 69.8
| 92.6
|
67
| Saint Lucia
| 65
| 73.7
| 88.2
|
68
| Belize
| 60.9
| 76.1
| 80
|
69
| Turkey
| 62.9
| 71.8
| 87.6
|
70
| Nicaragua
| 58.1
| 72.9
| 79.7
|
71
| Belarus
| 61.7
| 69
| 89.4
|
72
| Lithuania
| 64.1
| 73
| 87.8
|
73
| Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
| 66.4
| 71.6
| 92.7
|
74
| Argentina
| 66.7
| 75.3
| 88.6
|
75
| Sri Lanka
| 62.8
| 72.4
| 86.7
|
76
| Estonia
| 63.1
| 71.4
| 88.4
|
77
| Guatemala
| 54.3
| 70.3
| 77.2
|
78
| Ukraine
| 63
| 67.9
| 92.8
|
79
| Solomon Islands
| 54.9
| 63.6
| 86.3
|
80
| Algeria
| 61.6
| 72.3
| 85.2
|
81
| Palau
| 59
| 69.1
| 85.4
|
82
| Jordan
| 60
| 72.5
| 82.8
|
83
| Mauritius
| 62.7
| 72.8
| 86.1
|
84
| Grenada
| 65.5
| 68.7
| 95.3
|
85
| Antigua and Barbuda
| 65.8
| 75.3
| 87.4
|
86
| Libya
| 59.3
| 74
| 80.1
|
87
| Bangladesh
| 49.9
| 64.1
| 77.8
|
88
| Macedonia
| 63.2
| 74.2
| 85.2
|
89
| Bosnia-Herzegovina
| 64.9
| 74.9
| 86.6
|
90
| Lebanon
| 60.6
| 72
| 84.2
|
91
| Indonesia
| 59.7
| 70.7
| 84.4
|
92
| Iran
| 60.5
| 71
| 85.2
|
93
| Bahamas
| 59.1
| 73.5
| 80.4
|
94
| Panama
| 66
| 75.5
| 87.4
|
95
| Fiji
| 59.4
| 68.8
| 86.3
|
96
| Benin
| 44.2
| 56.7
| 78
|
97
| Nauru
| 52.5
| 58
| 90.5
|
98
| Romania
| 62.3
| 72.5
| 85.9
|
World’s Best Health Care - Ranking of Health Care by Countries – and Healthy Life Expectancy by Country
Rank
| Country
| Healthy Life Expectancy (Years)
| Actual Life Expectancy (Years)
| % Healthy Life Expectancy to Actual Life Expectancy
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
99
| Saint Kitts and Nevis
| 61.6
| 71.3
| 86.4
|
100
| Moldova
| 61.5
| 68.9
| 89.3
|
101
| Bulgaria
| 64.4
| 73
| 88.2
|
102
| Iraq
| 55.3
| 59.5
| 92.9
|
103
| Armenia
| 66.7
| 72
| 92.6
|
104
| Latvia
| 62.2
| 72.7
| 85.6
|
105
| Cook Islands
| 63.4
| 70.6
| 89.8
|
106
| Syria
| 58.8
| 74.1
| 79.4
|
107
| Azerbaijan
| 63.7
| 67.5
| 94.4
|
108
| Suriname
| 62.7
| 70.2
| 89.3
|
109
| Ecuador
| 61
| 75
| 81.3
|
110
| India
| 53.2
| 64.7
| 82.2
|
111
| Cape Verde
| 57.6
| 71.7
| 80.3
|
112
| Georgia
| 66.3
| 71
| 93.4
|
113
| El Salvador
| 61.5
| 71.9
| 85.5
|
114
| Tonga
| 62.9
| 73.3
| 85.8
|
115
| Uzbekistan
| 60.2
| 67.2
| 89.6
|
116
| Comoros
| 46.8
| 65.2
| 71.8
|
117
| Samoa
| 60.5
| 71.5
| 84.6
|
118
| Yemen
| 49.7
| 62.7
| 79.3
|
119
| Niue
| 61.6
| 70.5
| 87.4
|
120
| Pakistan
| 55.9
| 65.5
| 85.3
|
121
| Micronesia
| 59.6
| 68.9
| 86.5
|
122
| Bhutan
| 51.8
| 65.6
| 79
|
123
| Brazil
| 59.1
| 72.4
| 81.6
|
124
| Bolivia
| 53.3
| 65.6
| 81.3
|
125
| Vanuatu
| 52.8
| 70
| 75.4
|
126
| Guyana
| 60.2
| 66.8
| 90.1
|
127
| Peru
| 59.4
| 71.4
| 83.2
|
128
| Russia
| 61.3
| 67.8
| 90.4
|
129
| Honduras
| 61.1
| 70.2
| 87
|
130
| Burkina Faso
| 35.5
| 52.3
| 67.9
|
131
| Sao Tome and Principe
| 53.5
| 65.5
| 81.7
|
132
| Sudan
| 43
| 58.6
| 73.4
|
133
| Ghana
| 45.5
| 60
| 75.8
|
134
| Tuvalu
| 57.4
| 69.6
| 82.5
|
135
| Ivory Coast
| 42.8
| 48.3
| 88.6
|
136
| Haiti
| 43.8
| 60.9
| 71.9
|
137
| Gabon
| 47.8
| 56.7
| 84.3
|
138
| Kenya
| 39.3
| 54.1
| 72.6
|
139
| Marshall Islands
| 56.8
| 65.2
| 87.1
|
140
| Kiribati
| 55.3
| 60.9
| 90.8
|
141
| Burundi
| 34.6
| 49.6
| 69.8
|
142
| China
| 62.3
| 73
| 85.3
|
143
| Mongolia
| 53.8
| 66.6
| 80.8
|
144
| Gambia
| 48.3
| 59.4
| 81.3
|
145
| Maldives
| 53.9
| 68.5
| 78.7
|
146
| Papua New Guinea
| 47
| 57.2
| 82.2
|
147
| Uganda
| 32.7
| 51.5
| 63.5
|
148
| Nepal
| 49.5
| 63.8
| 77.6
|
149
| Kyrgystan
| 56.3
| 65.9
| 85.4
|
150
| Togo
| 40.7
| 58.4
| 69.7
|
151
| Turkmenistan
| 54.3
| 63.2
| 85.9
|
152
| Tajikistan
| 57.3
| 66.7
| 85.9
|
153
| Zimbabwe
| 32.9
| 43.5
| 75.6
|
154
| Tanzania
| 36
| 52.5
| 68.6
|
155
| Djibouti
| 37.9
| 54.8
| 69.2
|
156
| Eritrea
| 37.7
| 58
| 65
|
157
| Madagascar
| 36.6
| 59.4
| 61.6
|
158
| Vietnam
| 58.2
| 74.2
| 78.4
|
159
| Guinea
| 37.8
| 56
| 67.5
|
160
| Mauritania
| 41.4
| 64.2
| 64.5
|
161
| Mali
| 33.1
| 54.5
| 60.7
|
162
| Cameroon
| 45.7
| 50.4
| 90.7
|
163
| Laos
| 46.1
| 64.4
| 71.6
|
164
| Congo
| 45.1
| 53.6
| 84.1
|
165
| North Korea
| 62.3
| 67.3
| 92.6
|
166
| Namibia
| 35.6
| 52.9
| 67.3
|
167
| Botswana
| 32.3
| 50.7
| 63.7
|
168
| Niger
| 29.1
| 56.9
| 51.1
|
169
| Equatorial Guinea
| 44.1
| 51.6
| 85.5
|
170
| Rwanda
| 32.8
| 46.2
| 71
|
171
| Afghanistan
| 37.7
| 43.8
| 86.1
|
172
| Cambodia
| 42.8
| 59.7
| 71.7
|
173
| South Africa
| 39.8
| 49.3
| 80.7
|
174
| Guinea-Bissau
| 37.2
| 46.4
| 80.2
|
175
| Swaziland
| 38.1
| 39.6
| 96.2
|
176
| Chad
| 39.4
| 50.6
| 77.9
|
177
| Somalia
| 36.4
| 48.2
| 75.5
|
178
| Ethiopia
| 33.5
| 52.9
| 63.3
|
179
| Angola
| 38
| 47
| 80.9
|
180
| Zambia
| 30.3
| 42.4
| 71.5
|
181
| Lesotho
| 36.9
| 42.6
| 86.6
|
182
| Mozambique
| 34.4
| 42.1
| 81.7
|
183
| Malawi
| 29.4
| 48.3
| 60.9
|
184
| Liberia
| 34
| 45.7
| 74.4
|
185
| Nigeria
| 38.3
| 46.9
| 81.7
|
186
| Democratic Republic of the Congo
| 36.3
| 46.5
| 78.1
|
187
| Central African Republic
| 35
| 44.7
| 78.3
|
188
| Myanmar
| 51.6
| 62.1
| 83.1
|
World’s Best Health Care - Ranking of Health Care by Countries – and Healthy Life Expectancy by Country
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