Data-driven Analysis of Healthcare Affordability and Access : Evaluating Nations with Open Datasets
Nguyen, Ky Anh (2025)
2025
Tieto- ja sähkötekniikan kandidaattiohjelma - Bachelor's Programme in Computing and Electrical Engineering
Informaatioteknologian ja viestinnän tiedekunta - Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences
Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2025-12-04
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-2025120411257
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-2025120411257
Tiivistelmä
Healthcare affordability and access have remained at the core of human well-being, global sustainable development, and social equity. This thesis assesses characteristics of healthcare systems across five chosen OECD nations - Finland, the United Kingdom, Luxembourg, the United States, and Mexico - and discovers how they differ in providing affordable and accessible care, and the role of economic, social, and policy factors in such differences.
The research focuses on analysing four key dimensions: economic context, social structure, policy and financing schemes, and healthcare capacity. Data were mainly gathered from OECD, World Bank, and WHO open databases, along with complementary public reports or academic literature. With the use of interpretive and comparative analysis, healthcare system of each country was evaluated regarding its structure, level of financing, equity, coverage percentage, workforce adequacy, and health outcomes.
Found results highlight that national economic capacity does not guarantee universal and equitable healthcare access on its own. Instead, factors such as equality rate, public financing, health prioritization, and governance efficiency are much more dominant at determining healthcare affordability and access. Finland, the UK, and Luxembourg showcase their universal, well-prioritized, and adequately financed systems and consequential achievements such as better health performance, along with higher equity and financial security. In contrast, the US and Mexico demonstrate how fragmentation, over-privatization, understaffing, and underfunding limit services access despite their differences in national wealth.
The findings generally indicate that healthcare systems also reflect broader a nation's social and political priorities, rather than only economic output. Universal and efficient systems with equitable and financially protected qualities remain crucial for achieving affordable and accessible healthcare.
The research focuses on analysing four key dimensions: economic context, social structure, policy and financing schemes, and healthcare capacity. Data were mainly gathered from OECD, World Bank, and WHO open databases, along with complementary public reports or academic literature. With the use of interpretive and comparative analysis, healthcare system of each country was evaluated regarding its structure, level of financing, equity, coverage percentage, workforce adequacy, and health outcomes.
Found results highlight that national economic capacity does not guarantee universal and equitable healthcare access on its own. Instead, factors such as equality rate, public financing, health prioritization, and governance efficiency are much more dominant at determining healthcare affordability and access. Finland, the UK, and Luxembourg showcase their universal, well-prioritized, and adequately financed systems and consequential achievements such as better health performance, along with higher equity and financial security. In contrast, the US and Mexico demonstrate how fragmentation, over-privatization, understaffing, and underfunding limit services access despite their differences in national wealth.
The findings generally indicate that healthcare systems also reflect broader a nation's social and political priorities, rather than only economic output. Universal and efficient systems with equitable and financially protected qualities remain crucial for achieving affordable and accessible healthcare.
Kokoelmat
- Kandidaatintutkielmat [10747]