I recently had the opportunity to travel to Brazil with about 20 other first year Fuqua students as part of the Brazil Global Academic Travel Experience (GATE). We visited Sao Paulo, Manaus, and Rio de Janeiro, and had opportunities to study Brazilian economy and culture. We learned that the population and size of Brazil are smaller, but similar, to the United States. We also learned that the ethnic diversity of Brazil is similar to that of the US. We were able to hear from representatives from many walks of Brazilian life ranging from corporate representatives to American State Department personnel.
While we did not specifically visit any healthcare related companies, we learned about the Brazilian healthcare system when a fellow Fuqua student unfortunately had to visit the emergency department in Manaus. Through this student’s visit, we were able to gain some insights into the Brazilian healthcare system. Each country’s healthcare system is different and is a product of the people, culture, and history of the nation. Brazil has had one main healthcare goal since the 1980’s: ensure universal healthcare insurance coverage by offering state sponsored, constitutionally guaranteed coverage.¹ As a result, all Brazilians are guaranteed healthcare coverage.
Based on my peer’s experience, when a patient arrives at the emergency department, the patient does not have to fill out a mountain of paperwork or provide proof of coverage. In fact, my peer barely had to wait in the waiting room at all. English is not widely spoken in Manaus so luckily a native speaker was able to accompany my classmate to the hospital. There was some delay in treatment because of the translating, but no delay because of paperwork, insurance documentation, or long lines to get into the ED. My peer described the waiting room as clean and comfortable with warm lighting, soft colors, and friendly, professional staff. The attending physician was also friendly and willing to spend time digging into the patient’s medical history instead of rushing off to the next room. There was a little waiting involved in his hospital visit, waiting for test results. This time was spent in a small but comfortable room. When the results came back, the physician spent several minutes walking my classmate through the results. At the end of the visit, a credit card was charged $350 and my colleague was on his way back to enjoy the rest of the trip.
I can’t naively say that all Brazilians or even all foreigners would have this same experience, but I do have to say that this brought the HSM program full circle for me. During HSM boot camp, we spend a fair amount of time discussing various healthcare systems throughout the world, and we discuss what we can take away from these systems to improve our own system. I’m sure there are many areas in which the Brazilian healthcare system can improve, but I was happy to see firsthand that a healthcare system wouldn’t collapse under the weight of insuring its citizens. There are certainly ways that the US healthcare system can improve. I recommend taking advantage of the opportunities offered by Fuqua and the HSM program to begin exploring these options and learning about new ways to handle old problems. I’m certainly glad I did.
¹http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/88/9/10-020910/en/