IQ Test For Kids

What is universal health coverage?

Universal health care coverage refers to systems in which all residents of a particular geographic area or country have health insurance. An early example of universal health coverage was Germany in the 1880s, when Chancellor Otto von Bismarck introduced a series of bills that guaranteed access to health care. Today, most industrialized nations, including France, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, but not the United States, offer universal health care coverage to their citizens.

While the United States leads the industrialized nations in spending on health care, it has worse health outcomes and services are provided to a smaller proportion of the population. Now, the healthcare system is suffering further from the double burden of the coronavirus pandemic and the loss of income from elective surgery and routine medical care that was suspended during the pandemic. One of the responses to the COVID-19 crisis, according to everyone from New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, to the World Health Organization and Pope Francis, is to provide universal health care coverage to children. Americans.

Understand universal health coverage

There are at least three types of regulations that can ensure that all people in a jurisdiction are covered for medical and hospital care. These include the requirement or obligation to have health insurance, the provision of insurance (but not care) through a single government payer, and social medicine, where the government administers the insurance and Medicare.

Types of universal health coverage

Medical insurance is required
Some governments require all residents to purchase a health insurance policy or they face a fine or penalty. The government may subsidize a portion of the premiums, but most of the insurance is provided by private companies. For example, the German system includes both for-profit and non-profit insurance companies. The demand for health insurance has helped some countries, including Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland, to achieve universal coverage.

Single payer insurance systems
Under a single payer system, the government pays all healthcare costs using tax revenues. This allows countries to control costs, in part, by making the government play a greater role in negotiating health care prices. Health insurance is comprehensive and is provided by a single entity. However, the medical care itself is provided by private doctors and hospitals.

National health systems
In these systems, the government provides both insurance and health care.

In the UK's National Health Service, for example, the government owns most of the hospitals and employs medical service providers. The publicly funded Swedish system provides care mainly through government service providers, although private companies play a limited role. Social systems are less common than single payer systems.