Prewriting Assignment Thesis statement: This paper is, essentially, an outline containing the comparisons of the US and Germany health systems with a narrower focus on pediatric health, a thesis statement and annotations of resources containing information supporting the thesis statement. 1. USA: Overview 2. Germany: Overview 3. Topic focus 4. Thesis statement 5. 4 sources with annotations 6. 2 sources without annotation Running head: PREWRITING ASSIGNMENT Prewriting Assignment Institution Affiliation Date 1 PREWRITING ASSIGNMENT 2 Country 1: United States of America Population: 329,256,465 Health Care System: Insurance mandate: employer subsidized or individual health insurance and public health insurance plan Overview: The United States of America is the name given to the fifty states and the District of Colombia that make up the country in North America. It gained its independence from its colonizers, the English, in 1783 when the Treaty of Paris was signed. Canada borders the USA to the north while Mexico is the border country to the south and also the North Atlantic Ocean and North Pacific Ocean. The country is one of the world’s superpowers meaning that it has relatively low rates of unemployment and inflation, high economic growth rates and rapid technological advancements. The country’s per capita GDP is $59,500, a gross national saving of 18.9% of GDP and an unemployment rate of 4.4% (Central Intelligence Agency, n.d.). According to the US Census Bureau (n.d.) 87.3% of the population has at least a high school education while 30.9% have a Bachelor’s degree, 10.2% don’t have health insurance, and the median household income is $57,562 in a country where 12.3% of people live in poverty which represents a strong economy as compared to most countries on a global scale. Country 2: Germany Population: 82,374,131 Health Care System: Dual system: universal coverage-mandatory public insurance and private insurance PREWRITING ASSIGNMENT 3 Overview: Germany was a major participant in the two world wars, and it got divided into two states in 1949 during the cold war before the end of the cold war, and the USSR led to its unification in 1990. It is the largest economy in Europe and the fifth largest globally with a high urban population with an equally high life expectancy rate of 80.9 years. There is a comparatively low level of unemployment rates (3.8%), low levels of investment despite being a large exporter of machinery, chemicals and vehicles but a per capita GDP of $50,800 as of 2017 which indicates a strong economy (Central Intelligence Agency, n.d.). However, the country’s population living under the poverty line is high as compared to other European nations given that it is stated to be 16.7%. The country has also made strides in reducing reliance on nuclear power has shut down 8 of its 22 nuclear reactors and adopted renewable energy up to the 29th percentile by 2016 from 9 percent in 2000 (Central Intelligence Agency, n.d.). Germany spent 11.3% of its GDP in 2014 on health expenditures and among the lowest infant mortality rates in the world at 3.4 per 1000 live births. Topic Focus: Pediatric Health Thesis statement: There is no doubt that the US health care system is an advanced one but the German health care system is even more comprehensive and affordable. The US heavily funds its health care system, but the citizens still incur prohibitive out-of-pocket costs for health care services unlike in Germany where the government covers eighty-five percent of the cost of health care for everyone. Because of Germany’s commitment to providing universal coverage where children and adolescents get free therapeutic and diagnostic care all through education, the USA is unlikely to catch up with Germany’s pediatric health system in the near future. Annotated Bibliography: PREWRITING ASSIGNMENT 4 Source 1 • Jochen Ehrich, Ulrike Grote, Andreas Gerber-Grote, Michael Strassburg; October 2016; The Child Health Care System of Germany; The Journal of Pediatrics • Academic journal article • Ehrich, J., Grote, U., Gerber-Grote, A., & Strassburg, M. (2016). The Child Health Care System of Germany. The Journal of Pediatrics, 177, S71-S86. doi:10.1016/j.jpeds.2016.04.045 Annotation: The central argument of this paper is that Germany went through a dramatic improvement in the 14 years between 2000 and 2014 and it seeks to explain the strengths and challenges that it has experienced and what could be done to improve it. It also details the organization of the pediatric health system and its superiority on the global scale. The authors are professionals in the field. Jochen Ehrich is a medical doctor at a children’s hospital in Hannover, Germany and is Ulrike Grote’s colleague while Andreas Gerber-Grote is affiliated to the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care in Köln, Germany. Michael Strassburg is also an MD at a children’s hospital in Wurzburg Germany. This article supports my thesis statement that Germany’s pediatric health care system is truly world-class and other countries can learn a lot from it. Source 2 • Kandyce Larson, William L. Cull, Andrew D. Racine Lynn M. Olson; December 2016; Trends in Access to Health Care Services for US Children: 2000-2014; Pediatrics • Scholarly article PREWRITING ASSIGNMENT • 5 Larson, K., Cull, W. L., Racine, A. D., & Olson, L. M. (2016). Trends in Access to Health Care Services for US Children: 2000-2014. PEDIATRICS, 138(6), e20162176-e20162176. doi:10.1542/peds.2016-2176 Annotation: This article describes the improvement in health care services for U.S. children from the year 2000 to 2014, and it does so by explaining the variance found in race, ethnicity and income factors. Health insurance is a critical factor in the U.S. health care system, and this paper conducts a wide study on the uptake and influence of health insurance rates on the health outcomes of children in the country. Its authors are well-established experts, each with a holder of the PhD distinction level in medical studies. Kandyce Larson and her colleague, William Cull are distinguished researchers and licensed medical practitioners working at the Division of Health Services Research while Andrew Racine is a medical doctor at the Montefiore Medical Center in New York. Lyn Olson is a PhD holder and works at the Department of Research, American Academy of Pediatrics, Elk Grove Village, Illinois. The relevance of this article to my thesis statement is to give the information and data on access to pediatric health services in the USA and compare it to that of Germany’s system. Source 3 • Jenny Peplies, Max Westphal, Birgit Kaltz, Antje Ballauff, Martin Claben, Martin W. Lass et al.; May 18, 2017; Transition from pediatric to adult medical care – A survey in young persons with inflammatory bowel disease; PLOS ONE • Academic journal article • Timmer, A., Peplies, J., Westphal, M., Kaltz, B., Ballauff, A., Claßen, M., … Koletzko, S. (2017). Transition from pediatric to adult medical care – A survey in young PREWRITING ASSIGNMENT 6 persons with inflammatory bowel disease. PLOS ONE, 12(5), e0177757. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0177757 Annotation: This paper examines the issue of transition of German kids into adult health services with a focus on differences according to the type of provider. It explores the efficiency and challenges of the German pediatric health system as the child progresses from infant to adulthood. The authors have considerable experience on the subject matter. Antje Timmer, Jenny Peplies and Max Westphal are members of the Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology – BIPS GmbH in Bremen. Antje Ballauffis, a pediatrician at the Center for Children’s and Adolescent Medicine in Krefeld and Martin Laas, is a pediatrician at Children’s Hospital, Medical Faculty Carl Gustav Carus, Technical University in Dresden, Germany. The relevance of this paper is to show help me demonstrate how Germany ensures that, after providing free diagnostic and therapeutic care to its children all through school, it continues providing universal health care to them as adults. Source 5 • Central Intelligence Authority; no date; The World Fact book-Europe Germany; Central Intelligence Authority • Credible website • Central Intelligence Agency. (n.d.). Europe: Germany — The World Factbook. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-worldfactbook/geos/gm.html Annotation: This resource is the website run by the US’s Central Intelligence Agency. It contains data on all countries in the world on critical aspects of the economy including GDP PREWRITING ASSIGNMENT 7 data, geography, population, health expenditure and systems, types of government, energy utility and development and military and security among others. It is a credible website because it maintained and regularly updated by a legitimate government organization. This data will be important for my thesis statement in supporting claims with actual, reliable data. Source 4 • Professor Reinhard Busse, Miriam Blumel, Franz Knieps, Prof Till Barnighausen; August 26, 2017; Statutory health insurance in Germany: a health system shaped by 135 years of solidarity, self-governance, and competition; The Lancet • Academic journal article • Busse, R., Blümel, M., Knieps, F., & Bärnighausen, T. (2017). Statutory health insurance in Germany: a health system shaped by 135 years of solidarity, self-governance, and competition. The Lancet, 390(10097), 882-897. doi:10.1016/s01406736(17)31280-1 Source 6 • Department for Professional Employees; 2016; The U.S. Health Care System: An International Perspective; DPEAFLCIO • Credible website • Department for Professional Employees. (2016). The U.S. Health Care System: An International Perspective — DPEAFLCIO. Retrieved from https://dpeaflcio.org/programs-publications/issue-fact-sheets/the-u-s-healthcare-system-an-international-perspective/ PREWRITING ASSIGNMENT 8 References Busse, R., Blümel, M., Knieps, F., & Bärnighausen, T. (2017). Statutory health insurance in Germany: a health system shaped by 135 years of solidarity, self-governance, and competition. The Lancet, 390(10097), 882-897. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(17)31280-1 Central Intelligence Agency. (n.d.). Europe: Germany — The World Factbook. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/gm.html Department for Professional Employees. (2016). The U.S. Health Care System: An International Perspective — DPEAFLCIO. Retrieved from https://dpeaflcio.org/programspublications/issue-fact-sheets/the-u-s-health-care-system-an-international-perspective/ Ehrich, J., Grote, U., Gerber-Grote, A., & Strassburg, M. (2016). The Child Health Care System of Germany. The Journal of Pediatrics, 177, S71-S86. doi:10.1016/j.jpeds.2016.04.045 Larson, K., Cull, W. L., Racine, A. D., & Olson, L. M. (2016). Trends in Access to Health Care Services for US Children: 2000-2014. PEDIATRICS, 138(6), e20162176-e20162176. doi:10.1542/peds.2016-2176 Timmer, A., Peplies, J., Westphal, M., Kaltz, B., Ballauff, A., Claßen, M., … Koletzko, S. (2017). Transition from pediatric to adult medical care – A survey in young persons with inflammatory bowel disease. PLOS ONE, 12(5), e0177757. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0177757 U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.). U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: UNITED STATES. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/IPE120217#IPE120217
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