Universal healthcare

(noun)

A system where every citizen is guaranteed access to a certain basic level of health services.

Related Terms

Examples of Universal healthcare in the following topics:

  • Universal Coverage

    • Universal healthcare coverage provides healthcare and financial protection to all citizens; however the United States has not adopted it.
    • Universal healthcare--sometimes referred to as universal health coverage, universal coverage, universal care, or social health protection--usually refers to a healthcare system that provides healthcare and financial protection to all citizens.
    • Universal healthcare is not a one-size-fits-all concept, nor does it imply unlimited coverage for all people.
    • Universal healthcare systems vary according to the extent of government involvement in providing care and/or health insurance.
    • Explain how universal healthcare works as a national health care policy and the arguments made for and against it

  • Health Care in the U.S.

    • Healthcare in the United States is provided by separate legal entities, often private facilities with governmental insurance for citizens.
    • Healthcare in the United States is provided by many separate legal entities.
    • Healthcare facilities are largely owned and operated by the private sector.
    • The United States is alone among developed nations with the notable absence of a universal healthcare system.
    • The U.S. system is primarily one of private insurance, with governmental insurance provided for citizens on the healthcare fringe.

  • Public Assistance

    • Subsidies help to provide food, housing, education, healthcare, and financial support to individuals in need.
    • Universal healthcare: health care coverage that provides health care and financial protection to all citizens.

  • Paying for Medical Care

    • As evidence of this, people in lower socioeconomic classes in the US are significantly more likely to contract a preventable disease than are people in higher socioeconomic classes, which is not the case in Canada, where they have universal healthcare.
    • Publicly funded medicine is often referred to as socialized medicine by its opponents, whereas supporters of this approach tend to use the terms universal healthcare, single payer healthcare, or National Health Services.
    • A 2007 New York Times/CBS Poll found that a majority of Americans support some form of universal healthcare (59%), and just as many Americans support it even if it means raising their taxes.
    • Support is mixed between Democrats, Republicans, and Independents: 63% of Democrats support universal healthcare, 49% of Independents do, and 30% of Republicans do.
    • Likewise, some systems do not necessarily provide universal healthcare, nor restrict coverage to public health facilities.

  • Different Health Care Systems Around the World

    • The most notable difference between these systems is that the US is that, of these countries, the US is the only country without universal healthcare.
    • Healthcare spending per capita is on the left y-axis and life expectancy is on the right.
    • This graph demonstrates the apparent correlation between beds (per 1000 people) and the costs involved in healthcare overall.

  • Introducing Health Psychology

    • Health psychology is the application of psychological theory and research to health, illness, and healthcare.
    • Health psychologists work with healthcare professionals and patients to help people deal with the psychological and emotional aspects of health and illness.
    • Clinical health psychology refers to the application of scientific knowledge to clinical questions that arise across the spectrum of healthcare.
    • Critical health psychology prioritizes social justice and the universal right to good health for people of all races, genders, ages, and socioeconomic positions.
    • A major concern is health inequality, and the critical health psychologist acts as an agent of change working to create equal access to healthcare.

  • The Healthcare Plan of 1993

    • Clinton appointed First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton to lead a task force on healthcare reform during his first term in office.
    • The Clinton health care plan was a 1993 healthcare reform package proposed by the administration of President Bill Clinton and closely associated with the chair of the task force devising the plan, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.
    • Its goal was to come up with a comprehensive plan to provide universal health care for all Americans, which was to be a cornerstone of the administration's first-term agenda.
    • Moderate conservatives dubbed the reform proposals “Hillarycare” and argued that the bill was an unwarranted expansion of the powers of the federal government that would interfere with people’s ability to choose the healthcare provider they wanted.
    • Those further to the right argued that healthcare reform was part of a larger and nefarious plot to control the public.

  • The Role of Government

    • Publicly funded health care is a form of healthcare financing designed to meet the cost of healthcare needs from a publicly managed fund.
    • Publicly funded health care is a form of healthcare financing designed to meet the cost of all or most healthcare needs from a publicly managed fund.
    • Publicly funded healthcare systems are usually financed in one of two ways: through taxation or via compulsory national health insurance.
    • Many OECD countries have implemented reforms to achieve policy goals of ensuring access to healthcare, improving the quality of healthcare and health outcomes, allocating an appropriate level of public sector other resources to healthcare, while at the same time ensuring that services are provided in a cost-efficient and cost-effective manner (microeconomic efficiency).
    • Total U.S. healthcare spending from 1960 to 2007 by percent of GDP (gross domestic product)

  • Health Care Policy

    • The debate over access to health care in the United States concerns whether or not the government should provide universal health care.
    • The government primarily provides health insurance for public sector employees. 60-65 percent of healthcare provisions and spending comes from programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, the Children's Health Insurance Program, and the Veterans Health Administration.
    • However, a system of universal health care has not been implemented nation-wide.
    • Massachusetts has adopted a universal health care system through the Massachusetts 2006 Health Reform Statute.
    • A single-payer universal health care plan for an entire population can be financed from a pool to which many parties such as employees, employers, and the state have contributed.

  • The Freedmen's Bureau

    • The Freedmen's Bureau helped former slaves adjust to freedom by providing food, housing, education, healthcare, and employment prospects.
    • Prior to the Civil War, no southern state had a system of universal state-supported public education.