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Health Care Jobs New Zealand
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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,
nursing, and allied health professions.
The organised provision of such services may constitute a health
care system. This can include a specific governmental
organisation such as, in the UK, the National Health Service or
a cooperation across the National Health Service and Social
Services as in Shared Care. Before the term "healthcare" became
popular, English-speakers referred to medicine or to the health
sector and spoke of the treatment and prevention of illness and
disease.
The healthcare industry is one of the world's largest and
fastest-growing industries. [citation needed] Consuming over 10
percent of gross domestic product of most developed nations,
health care can form an enormous part of a country's economy.
[citation needed] 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 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 with the
United States (13.9%), Switzerland (10.9%), and Germany (10.7%)
being the top three.
The healthcare 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. |
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