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Health
care industry:
The
health care industry is one of the world's largest and
fastest-growing industries. Consuming over 10 percent
of gross domestic product of most developed nations,
health care can form an enormous part of a country's
economy. In 2003, health care costs paid to hospitals,
physicians, nursing homes, diagnostic laboratories,
pharmacies, medical device manufacturers and other components
of the health care system, consumed 15.3 percent of
the GDP of the United States, the largest of any country
in the world.
According
to Health Affairs, USD$7,498 will be spent on every
woman, man and child in the United States in 2007, 20
percent of all spending. Costs are projected to increase
to $12,782 by 2016.The healthcare industry includes
the delivery of health services by health care providers.
Usually such services receive payment from the patient
or from the patient's insurance company; although they
may be government-financed (such as the National Health
Service in the United Kingdom) or delivered by charities
or volunteers, particularly in poorer countries. There
are many ways of providing healthcare in the modern
world.
The
World Health Organisation (WHO) is a specialised United
Nations agency which acts as a coordinator and researcher
for public health around the world. Established on 7
April 1948, and headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland,
the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its
predecessor, the Health Organization, which had been
an agency of the League of Nations. |
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