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Universal healthcare ensures access to medical services for all citizens or residents. Germany was the first to achieve nationwide coverage in the 1880s, while every wealthy, industrialized nation except the US offers some form of universal healthcare. The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) is fully covered by tax revenues, while other systems may provide for compulsory insurance. Opponents argue that keeping healthcare out of the free market reduces quality of service and stifles freedom of choice. The issue is highly politicized in the US, with proposals ranging from tax-funded schemes to compulsory single-payer insurance.
Universal healthcare is a term that refers to a government system intended to ensure that every citizen or resident of a region has access to required medical services. The methods by which payment is made and by which doctors and other medical professionals practice medicine vary widely depending on the country or municipality.
Health coverage was first achieved nationwide in Germany in the 1880s as part of a widespread system of reforms instituted by Otto von Bismarck. The early German system had both employees and employers pay into a health system, which was administered by local health offices. In the modern world, every wealthy, industrialized nation except the United States offers its citizens some form of universal health care.
One of the most socialized systems is the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), set up in the aftermath of the Second World War, in 1948. Every aspect of medical care is fully covered by tax revenues, so that patients pay for all, either in a general insurance fund or directly to a medical provider. Medicines, meals, accommodation and services are provided, as are incidental costs such as outpatient care and equipment. In the past, the NHS has been criticized for offering rather low quality of healthcare and long waiting times for service. Since the late 1990s, the government has invested substantially more money in the NHS, drastically modernizing it and bringing it on par with the rest of Europe. The NHS has also begun to engage more heavily with the private sector, often outsourcing entire segments of healthcare to non-government controlled interests.
Other universal health care systems may provide for compulsory insurance for citizens as a means of providing medical services. In a system like this, insurance rates are kept low through subsidies, but all people are required to purchase a system. This type of flat fee helps reduce the tax burden of financing, and in most cases, assistance is provided by the government for those who are unable to afford an insurance payment. Some systems may require employers to bear the bulk of the insurance payment, rather than the individual.
While universal health care isn’t the subject of much debate in many nations, it has come under attack in recent years in countries where it has long been an institution. Population aging has in many cases placed a heavy burden on existing systems, and increasing privatization around the world has led to factions pushing against the public health care system. Opponents often argue that keeping health care out of the free market reduces the quality of service, lengthens waiting times, and stifles freedom of choice.
In the United States, the issue of universal health care is highly politicized. As the only wealthy industrial nation without such a system of any kind, a number of political candidates and elected officials have made establishing such a system a top priority. Proposals range from tax-funded schemes along the lines of the British model, to compulsory single-payer insurance schemes. As the issue becomes more mainstream and the public becomes more informed, it will likely continue to become a hot political issue and play an important role in future elections.
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