Socialized healthcare, also known as universal healthcare, is provided by the government in four main models worldwide, including the Beveridge, Bismarck, and National Health Insurance models. The US has non-universal socialized healthcare programs like Medicare and Medicaid, while England’s National Health Service is a classic example of the Beveridge system. Germany has a multi-payer system, and Canada’s Medicare program merges the Bismarck and Beveridge systems. Private insurance options exist in Canada, but most healthcare is covered under Medicare.
Socialized healthcare is an American term that describes what other societies call universal healthcare. It is the health care that is provided to the citizens of a country by its government. There are four main types of health care systems implemented worldwide, three of which are universal care systems. These three systems are called the Beveridge, Bismarck and National Health Insurance models. The term “socialized healthcare” is sometimes used as a derogatory term by some who oppose universal healthcare and is not generally used in other countries.
The Beveridge model of universal healthcare, initiated in Britain by William Beveridge, provides healthcare through the use of taxpayer funds and never invoices patients. In Germany, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck created what is now known as the Bismarck healthcare model, which uses a merger of non-profit healthcare funds. Other countries use a system that combines the Beveridge and Bismarck models of universal health care.
While the US primarily uses the honorary model of healthcare, socialized healthcare in the US exists in several forms on a non-universal scale. One program is Medicare, a federally administered program that provides health insurance for the elderly – as of 2012, those over 65 – and the disabled. Medicaid is a health insurance program administered by individual states and primarily serves certain groups of disabled and low-income individuals. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is a health care program that serves military personnel and administers a network of hospitals. TRICARE is the military medical insurance program serving soldiers and their dependents.
The implementation of socialized healthcare in England is called the National Health Service (NHS), which is the original and most classic example of the Beveridge system. First conceived by Lord William Beveridge, the NHS fully covers healthcare costs for British patients using taxes. Under the NHS, the government manages all health insurance and runs most hospitals. Cuba is the truest form of socialized healthcare as it extends the Beveridge model to government ownership of all hospitals.
Germany uses the Bismarck model of universal health care. It’s called a multi-payer system because there are over 200 separate, mostly non-profit health funds in Germany, all of which are strictly regulated. The government runs some of the hospitals in Germany and the prices of services are controlled centrally. Both workers and employers are required to pay into the system.
Canada’s hybrid version of the Universal Health Care program is known as the National Health Insurance Model. It is called “Medicare” by its citizens and was established by the Canada Health Act of 1984. This is the best-known example of a health care model that merges the Bismarck and Beveridge systems into one national program. Medicare in Canada is a single-payer system that provides primarily government-funded insurance by using taxpayer dollars to pay for access to mostly privately-run doctors and hospitals. Canada also has private insurance options, particularly for dental services, but nearly all doctor visits and hospital stays are covered under Canada’s Medicare system.
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