Health care

Health care or healthcare is the prevention, treatment, and management of illness and the preservation of mental and physical well-being through the services offered by the medical and allied health professions http://www.answers.com/healthcare&r=67#copyright.

Healthcare as an industry

The industry includes the delivery of health services by doctors and other allied health 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.

Related Topics:
Doctors - Allied health providers - Patient - Insurance - National Health Service - United Kingdom - Charities - Volunteer

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Health care can form an enormous part of a country's economy. In 2003, health care costs paid to hospitals, doctors, nursing homes, diagnostic laboratories, pharmacies, medical device manufacturers and other components of the health care system, consumed 15.3 percent http://www.cms.hhs.gov/statistics/nhe/historical/highlights.asp of the GDP of the United States, the largest of any country in the world. In 2001, for the OECD countries the average was 8.4 percent http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/10/20/2789777.pdf with the United States (13.9%), Switzerland (10.9%), and Germany (10.7%) being the top three.

Related Topics:
Economy - 2003 - Hospital - Doctors - Nursing home - Diagnostic - Pharmacies - Medical device - GDP - United States - OECD

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