Welcome to Health And Fitness

Healthcare is the general expression used for the entire sphere of prevention, treatment and cure of illness and disease using the services of medical experts and resources. The World Health Organizations definition is a little different and refers more to the prevention of illness and facilities to encourage this, in addition to intervention that should be available to a single person as well as a whole population. Any collective group of medical professionals and services dedicated to providing this would be termed a healthcare system.

The term health care has not always been used though and prior to this is it was often just referred to medicine or the health sector but this was used more by English speaking nations. In most developed countries and many developing nations healthcare is provided to everyone regardless of their ability to pay. It was the UK that pioneered the first population based healthcare system back in 1948 called The National Health Service run by each successive government.

Instead a system of compulsory government funded health insurance with nominal fees can be provided, as with Italy, which, according to The WHO, has the second-best health system in the world. Canada and Australia have both begun similar systems and have been running since 19.6 and the 1970’s respectively both going by the name of Medicare. These systems are almost opposite to the systems presently provided in American and South Africa although there are huge changes taking place in the system used by South Africa. Individuals who work in health care include all professionals whose job it is to preserve life, treat and cure illness and try to improve the health of people. The collective expression for this is the health care industry but the word industry may not necessarily be the best one to use.

Over a relatively short period of time, the health care industry has become one of the fastest growing in the world with an average growth rate of just over 10 percent of the gross domestic product of many developed countries and is still growing, playing a huge role in the domestic economies of most nations. The United States bucks this trend with, back in 2003, a health industry responsible or over 15 percent of gross domestic product but this is expected to rise considerably by 2016 when it will almost one fifth of The United States GDP.

This fact is highlighted by the large number of American citizens who have serious concerns about their health care, around 180 million to be exact, and the main worry for anyone seeking work in The USA. A problem which came to a head when General Motors was seriously looking at bankruptcy over the strain its health car plan was putting on the company. Luckily it didn’t happen after some concessions and compromises made with the unions but it does show how something like this can have an outcome on even the largest of companies.

In The United States, the prime worry of employees is their companies healthcare plans, even above their salaries, such is the importance placed on this increasingly costly service. Maybe it is time healthcare was looked at in a different way and perhaps called health preservation with an emphasis on fitness and health to ease the need for a top heavy healthcare system which is becoming a international problem.