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HWN Suggests

Covid-19 showed the US how it could make universal healthcare work

The US has always relied heavily on private insurance to cover its citizens.

As of 2019, roughly two thirds of Americans with healthcare (about 90% of the population) got it through a private company. The remaining third used public coverage like Medicare, Medicaid, and tax credits for private insurance through the Affordable Care Act. It’s not a perfect system by a long stretch: Even those with insurance encounter debilitating medical bills due to the exorbitant, variable costs of healthcare from provider to provider, and it misses a full 26 million people, who remain completely uninsured.

But the Covid-19 pandemic cracked the door for a new kind of federal involvement.…

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Featured

  California could become first US state to offer universal healthcare to residents

Although inequities in healthcare access exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic have intensified calls for healthcare reform, efforts to institute a universal health system, or even a public healthcare option, have historically faced implacable opposition from powerful private healthcare lobbies.

 How Much Will Americans Sacrifice for Good Health Care?

A battle is looming over universal health care. Politicians and voters will have to decide whether the trade-offs are worth it.

 The Next Generation of Doctors Is Pushing for Universal Healthcare

The student caucus of the American Medical Association got the organization to agree to reconsider its decades-long opposition to single-payer healthcare.

Previously Featured

A Brief History: Universal Health Care Efforts in the US

The campaign for some form of universal government-funded health care has stretched for nearly a century in the US On several occasions, advocates believed they were on the verge of success; yet each time they faced defeat. The evolution of these efforts and the reasons for their failure make for an intriguing lesson in American history, ideology, and character. Other developed countries have had some form of social insurance (that later evolved into national insurance) for nearly as long as the US has been trying to get it.

A history of why the US is the only rich country without universal health care

When did the country diverge from other industrialized nations and, rather than offering universal health coverage, built up a system that relied on private insurance?

A New Generation of Activist Doctors Is Fighting for Medicare for All

While Medicare for All remains deeply controversial among many Americans—and a nonstarter among most Republicans—physician-activists insist the tide is beginning to turn. “There’s been a sea change in the way we talk about health care reform,” says Dr. Adam Gaffney, an instructor at Harvard Medical School and president of Physicians for a National Health Program, which supports single-payer health care.

A Political Opening for Universal Health Care?

The winner in the fight between keeping Obamacare and rolling it back might be something else entirely.

America is a health-care outlier in the developed world

The only large rich country without universal health care.

Americans Have Realized They Deserve Health Care

Medical progress tends to move incrementally. We tweak our treatment protocols over time, adapting in response to research and clinical experience. But America’s view of health insurance is currently evolving at a breakneck pace, thanks to the political upheavals wrought by the Affordable Care Act and the current Republican proposal to replace it. We’re witnessing a medical revolution before our very eyes, this time about access to care, not the care itself.

Did the AHCA pave the way for universal healthcare?

While it might not happen as soon as Krauthammer predicts, the ACA—and the GOP’s attempts to dismantle it via the AHCA and negligence— is now the catalyst that moves the political discourse towards universal healthcare. Trump’s praise of Australia’s single-payer system could prove prophetic, sooner rather than later.

Everybody Covered

What the US can learn from other countries’ health systems.

Finally, a universal healthcare proposal that would work for everyone

Up to now, single-payer and universal health coverage proposals in the U.S. have foundered on one shoal or another: They're ungodly expensive; they replace plans that people like; they're too sudden; they're not sudden enough; they're politically impossible, etc., etc., etc. But now take a look at "Medicare Extra for All." It's a universal coverage proposal released last week by the Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank associated with the Democratic Party.

Health Care: A Universal Problem Without A Universal Solution

The United States, like Canada, isn't under the demographic strain that looms over Japan (though aging baby boomers will add stress to the health care system). Instead, the disagreement in Washington boils down to access to care, cost of coverage, inequalities in the health care system, and the line between personal and governmental responsibility -- age-old disputes in the United States.

I’m An American Doctor, And I’m Against Universal Health Care

Americans seem to feel that the Canadian health care system is far superior to the American system simply because it is free. Health care in the United States is flawed, but the Canadian system is far from perfect, despite the low cost to its citizens. Free health care requires patience waiting for your medical care, diagnostic tests, and surgeries – and we are a “wanted it yesterday” society.

Nurses Know the Human Costs of Care. That’s Why Many Want ‘Medicare for All.’

Critics say universal health care will penalize providers the most. These nurses are undeterred.

Nurses will help turn the promise of universal health care into a reality

For too long, nurses have been underutilized and under-resourced. Realizing the huge nursing dividend is the key to delivering on the promise of health for all.

Premium Blend

Why is it so difficult to provide universal health care?

Single-payer isn’t the only progressive option on health care

There are several routes to universal coverage — some more politically feasible than others.

The Future of Universal Health Care Is Medicaid

The ACA still stands because of how important it’s become. Democrats, take note.

This old bill could be the secret to affordable universal health care

Thankfully, there is another way to achieve universal coverage, and move decisively toward single-payer, either federally or at the state level, one which doesn't require sudden massive tax increases.

Three reasons the US doesn’t have universal health coverage

Why isn’t universal coverage through a national health insurance system even being considered in America? Research in health policy points to three explanations.

Three reasons the US is the most advanced nation in the world without universal health coverage

One key reason is the unique political culture in America. As a nation that began on the back of immigrants with an entrepreneurial spirit and without a feudal system to ingrain a rigid social structure, Americans are more likely to be individualistic.

Unspeakable Realities Block Universal Health Coverage In America

Americans with good jobs live in a socialist welfare state more generous, cushioned and expensive to the public than any in Europe. Like a European system, we pool our resources to share the burden of catastrophic expenses, but unlike European models, our approach doesn’t cover everyone.

What the US could learn from Thailand about health care coverage

To be sure, the Thai and American contexts are very, very different. While health spending stands at around 4 percent of GDP in Thailand, in America nearly 20 percent, or one-fifth, of the country’s total economic output is spent on health.

Why Does the Left Want Universal Health Care? Britain’s Is on Its Deathbed

The U.K.’s government-run healthcare system, the National Health Service, turns 70 this month. There’s not much to celebrate. The NHS is collapsing. Patients routinely face treatment delays, overcrowded hospitals, and doctor shortages. Even its most ardent defenders admit that the NHS is in crisis. Yet American progressives want to import this disastrous model. About one in three Democratic senators and more than half of Democratic representatives support single-payer health care. Why? The British experiment with socialized medicine has been a monumental failure. It would be foolish to repeat that mistake here.

Why doesn’t the United States have universal health care? The answer has everything to do with race

One hundred and fifty years after the freed people of the South first petitioned the government for basic medical care, the United States remains the only high-income country in the world where such care is not guaranteed to every citizen.

Why the road to universal health care in America looks rocky

AMERICA is the only rich country in the world that does not offer affordable health care to its entire population. “Medicare for All”, an ambitious proposal to expand America’s government health plan for the elderly, would change that.

Why the U.S. never got universal health care

Every fight over the Affordable Care Act is a reminder of the bigger truth about the U.S. health care system: It's really a patchwork, not a system, because we never decided what our priorities were. Here's a look at how it developed and why it's not the kind of health care safety net other countries have.

Why the US does not have universal health care, while many other countries do

Its culture is unusually individualistic, favoring personal over government responsibility; lobbyists are particularly active, spending billions to ensure that private insurers maintain their status in the health system; and our institutions are designed in a manner that limits major social policy changes from happening.

Resources

9 things Americans need to learn from the rest of the world’s health care systems

Universal health care is hard, but it should be possible — and eight more things I discovered from visiting other countries.

United States of Care

The mission of United States of Care is to ensure that every single American has access to quality, affordable health care regardless of health status, social need, or income.

Health Care for America Now

Health Care for America Now (HCAN) brings together national and state grassroots organizations to fight for quality, affordable health care for everyone in America, to protect Medicare, Medicaid and the social safety net, and to make the rich and corporations pay their fair share of taxes to support the economy.

Partnership for America's Health Care Future

The Partnership for America’s Health Care Future’s (PAHCF) mission is to build on and improve what’s working, where private coverage, Medicare and Medicaid work together to expand access to coverage and care, and fix what’s not.

Universal Health Coverage Coalition

A coalition of leading health and development organizations is urging governments to accelerate universal health coverage so that everyone, everywhere, can access quality health services without financial hardship.

Healthcare-NOW

Healthcare-NOW! is a national coalition fighting to win healthcare as a human right through a single-payer healthcare system. We will win by building a social movement of patients, workers, providers, employers, and others who believe that access to healthcare is basic to human dignity, and we will overcome the power of the healthcare industry one community at a time.

Medicare For All

We're fighting for a health care system that would end health disparities, effectively control costs, and assure that everyone has equal access to care.

National Coalition on Health Care

To bring together key stakeholders in order to achieve an affordable, high-value health care system for patients and consumers, for employers and other payers, and for taxpayers.

Physicians for a National Health Program

The answer to our health care crisis is clear. We propose a publicly financed, non-profit single-payer national health program that would fully cover medical care for all Americans.

Single Payer Now

Single Payer Now is a grassroots advocacy group in California. We educate and organize activists to advocate for health care without the insurance industry.

Students for a National Health Program

We believe that a single publicly funded, privately delivered universal health care system is necessary for us to provide high quality care to all our patients

Alliance for Health Policy

The Alliance for Health Policy is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to helping policymakers and the public better understand health policy, the root of the nation’s health care issues, and the trade-offs posed by various proposals for change. We believe a better health care system begins with a balanced exchange of evidence, experience, and multiple perspectives.

Community Catalyst

Community Catalyst’s mission is to build the power of people to create a health system rooted in race equity and health justice and a society where health is a right for all.

Doctors for America

A national movement of physicians and medical students mobilizing to ensure that everyone in America can get good health care and lead a healthy life.

Families USA

Families USA, a leading national, non-partisan voice for health care consumers, is dedicated to achieving high-quality, affordable health care and improved health for all. Our work is driven by and centered around four pillars: value, equity, coverage, and consumer experience. We view these focus areas — and the various issues unique to each area — as the cornerstones of America’s health care system.

HEAL California

HEAL California is about having a healthcare system that keeps us well while compassionately taking care of us when we’re not. This is far from what we have. When we most need help, we face endless paperwork, sky-high costs and a faceless, unresponsive non-system. Everything is way harder and more expensive than it needs to be. We need a simple, paperless, coordinated, affordable, transparent and accessible system.

National Nurses United

Win "healthcare justice, accessible, quality healthcare for all, as a human right."

Unions for Single Payer Health Care

Workers, our families and our unions are waging a difficult struggle to win or to keep good health care coverage.

Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut

To serve as a catalyst that engages residents and communities in shaping a democratic health system that provides universal access to quality, affordable, and equitable health care and promotes health in Connecticut. We believe that health care is a fundamental right and that our work is part of a broader movement for social and economic justice.

Vermont Health Care For All

www.VermontforSinglePayer.org is the website of Vermont Health Care For All (VTHCA), a Vermont non-profit corporation (501(c) 3), established in 2003 with the purpose of educating the public about the advantages of a universal publicly financed health care system for Vermont.