The government has established specific intervention programs which have been implemented like the expanded program of immunization. Another program has been the school health program which aims to detect diseases at a school age. Other prevention programs have been the HIV/AIDS prevention and control program and cancer screening programs. The government also announces outbreaks of diseases like dengue fever and for the early detection of pathology. Ninety eight percent of pregnant women are provided prenatal care.
Health care services are accessed both locally and regionally. The community health centers provide primary care services to the community. Secondary care level services are provided by public and private hospitals. The public service is available at a minimal cost compared with the private service. The shortage of trained staff and supplies limits effective coverage. The government of Grenada aims to reform the healthcare system by creating a national health insurance scheme.
It also aims to establish an autonomous body to manage hospital services. It seeks to reorganize the community health care system and health care financing. Finally the government aims to modernize the network of hospitals and primary health care physical facilities. The principles of the health care reform are self reliance, access, quality, financial sustainability and community involvement. Grenada’s health sector is hampered by financial shortages because of the rising demand for resources by the population.
A financial model needs to be developed which can generate funds based on the health insurance program (Pan American Health Organization, 2006). Compared with Grenada, the present health care system that exists in United States of America is available in the form of insurance. The U. S. expenditure on health care is more than any other nation in the world. It has been observed over the last few decades, U. S. has seen high health care costs. The high amount of health insurance to be paid has been rising at an increase rate of 2-3 times the rate of inflation.
Because of the outrageous, uncontrollable health care costs, there has been a great increase in the number of Americans who are uninsured. The problem was earlier restricted to low income Americans, more and more middle class citizens are getting influenced in every respect (Gorin, 2004). The US is the only developed nation that does not provide universal health care system. In United States, around 84% of citizens have some form of health insurance, either through their employers, purchased individually or provided by government programs.
Some publicly funded health care programs are provided for the elderly, disable, children and poor and federal law mandates public access to emergency services The US government schemes reported for over 45% health care expenses. This makes US government the largest insurer in the nation. Based on health care expenditure, The US government has been placed in the top ten highest spenders among the United Nations member countries in 2004 (Gorin, 2004). Still more than 16% of population in America is without health insurance.