Health Care and Labor Markets

Your goal is to learn about and analyze the health care systems and labor markets of 3 different countries: the United States and two countries of your choice. Please pick at least one other industrialized nation.

For each country, please address the following questions. The final product can be a written paper with graphics, or a video slide presentation with voiceover.

Content to Include

1. Country Basics and Demographics

What are some basic demographics? Size, population, GDP per capita, economic growth, major economic sectors, age distribution, race distribution, other relevant factors? What kind of political, economic, and education system is in place?

2. Health Care System

What kind of healthcare system is in place? Is there universal coverage? If not, what percentage are not covered?

Is the health care system single payer? Are there insurance companies (non-profit or for-profit)? Insurance mandates? Do all ages have the same type of coverage?

How is health care financed? Does it involve taxes, subsidies, copays, deductibles, or other methods?

Is insurance offered through employers? What fraction of the population is insured this way?

How are hospitals, physicians, and pharmaceuticals regulated and compensated?

Other relevant factors?

3. Labor Markets

Please comment on the following aspects of the labor market in each country:

Job security

Minimum wage

Unemployment

Productivity

Working hours, employment contracts, termination policies

Family-friendly policies

Migration and immigration

Inequality

Taxation

Labor market regulation/flexibility of labor markets

Recent major labor market reforms and their purpose

Other relevant factors?

4. Synthesis and Analysis

This section allows for some inference to be drawn by you, but I expect some of what you write will also be supported by sources.

What are the linkages between the health care system and labor market? How does one affect the other? How much of the workforce is in healthcare? Is insurance offered by employers for some part of the population?

How does culture, country values, and politics affect the health care system and labor markets and policies?

What do you see as the main advantages and drawback of the healthcare and labor market systems in the countries you are studying?

If you know someone who has lived in one of your non-US countries, feel free to incorporate their comments in this section.

5. Sources

I would expect you would have at least 5 sources. Websites can be used, but please provide more information than just the weblink (such as name of website, title of article, author if given, other if given). I do not require a specific format for references. Just be consistent.