Most countries pursue this goal and it is pertinent for developing countries to … ©2020 Verizon Media. By moving from private, market-based insurance to public financing of universal care, we flip the way we pay for care, so that low- and middle-income people pay a smaller share of their income on health care than the wealthy -- the opposite of the current system. Health care is not a service that follows standard market rules; it should be provided as a public good." Yet as the governor's recent about-face illustrates, the task at hand remains challenging. Director of Programs, National Economic and Social Rights Initiative, Sign up for membership to become a founding member and help shape HuffPost's next chapter. That is why Vermont's Healthcare Is a Human Right Campaign recently prepared its own equitable financing plan, using the governor's data as a baseline but adding new revenue designs. The government plays an important role in the realization of UHC in the country. Average height is another measure, and here the US does even worse. This would ensure not only that businesses pay based on their ability, but also incentivize them to raise rather than lower wages for the majority of workers. Why the country needs universal health care. Universal health coverage has been proposed as a way of improving access to health care in low- and middle-income countries. Universal HealtH Coverage? Health is a human right and a cornerstone of sustainable development and global security. Countries implementing universal health coverage are seeing the benefits: ?healthier communities and stronger economies. Universal health care in most countries has been achieved by a mixed model of funding. In addition, for the health care system as a whole, universal health care would mean a massive paperwork reduction. The case in favour of universal health care is strong, however. Life expectancy is a good indicator of health. So to answer your question, universal healthcare isn't the most important - affordable, quality healthcare is. Yet the people's movement for our right to health, both in the form of Healthcare Is a Human Right campaigns in Vermont, Maine, Maryland, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington, and in vibrant variations in many other states, is continuing the struggle, guided by Dr. King's reminder that "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.". The healthcare industry is divided into several areas in order to meet the health needs of individuals and the population at large. That’s why it is important for a society to have some form of universal health care coverage for all its citizens. March 9, 2020. Let’s look at 5 more reasons why #HEALTH FORALL matters: 1. In return, the company pays medical expenses. Group health insurance companies are profitable when more money is received in premiums than is paid out in claims. Why Universal Health Care is better. 11/25/2013 09:42 am ET Updated Jan 25, 2014 In the political firestorm over the ungainly rollout of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, one central question that should be front and center in our national debate seems to have receded into the background, and that is whether universal health care is a fundamental right or a privilege. The most obvious advantage of universal health care is that everyone has health insurance and access to medical services and that no one goes bankrupt from medical fees. Health is a human right and a cornerstone of sustainable development and global security. For universal health care to work, everyone, including healthy people, must pay premiums or additional taxes to pay for health care. A healthy nation they say is a wealthy nation. Important conversations are happening now. He knows that we have great health care providers, but it is just not affordable. Years of studies, preparations and proposals, a mountain of supportive data and a clear legal mandate fell by the wayside as soon as Governor Shumlin felt that the political stars were no longer aligned. the political stars were no longer aligned, a mass people's movement in the small state of Vermont, largest concentration of wealth since the 1930s, biggest income inequality gap since the late 1970s, One in three people in the U.S. struggle with medical bills, prepared its own equitable financing plan, National Economic and Social Rights Initiative. That's why most discussions about health care reform is centered around making insurance more available. Money that families have to spend on health is money that can’t be spent on ?sending a child to school, starting a business or coping with an emergency. The Ebola crisis clearly demonstrates the urgent need to strengthen health systems everywhere. It means that you will be eligible to have a universal health care as long as you become a part of a citizen in a certain country such as the citizens of the United States. Trump’s Ploy to Kill Grandma. Dr. King was envisioning ending poverty and ensuring economic and social rights for all, including people of color who were -- and still are -- most affected by economic injustice, and he predicted strong resistance from the powers that be. "As economists," the letter reads, "we understand that universal, publicly financed health care is not only economically feasible but highly preferable to a fragmented market-based insurance system. Other revenue sources modeled in the Campaign's plan include a progressive income tax and a tax on the capital gains, stocks, and financial transactions of the wealthiest 1 percent. By. Lack of affordable, quality health care traps families and nations in poverty. That is the healthcare crisis. One in three people in the U.S. struggle with medical bills, while insurance executives are raking in billion-dollar compensation packets. Part of HuffPost Politics. Tax obligations would be lower for small businesses and for those with low wage gaps between the top 1 percent and bottom 50 percent of wage earners. This plan, published by the Vermont Workers' Center and the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative, shows that public health care financing at state level is not only financially and economically feasible but essential for paving the way toward a more equitable society. How Fast-Food Companies Are Abusing Teen-Age Workers. Because universal health coverage can help stop the world’s biggest killers. 5. 2. The odds against universal health care advocates are long: What does it take to turn a market commodity into a public good, and dismantle an entire industry along the way? [...] We are now dealing with issues that will demand a radical redistribution of economic and political power.". This inequitable market-based system -- with its different and unequal insurance products, different and unequal prices for health services, and different and unequal access to doctors -- is both unjust and unsustainable. Corporate interests in maintaining this system are powerful, as is a culture of competition and consumption that sees health as a personal choice rather than a human right. because it takes the control of care and services and coverage selection away from the individual. Universal Healthcare is extremely important. According to WHO, the systems needs to be efficient, has to provide vital medicine as well as … At the same time, people need to be protected from being pushed into poverty because of the cost of health care. Let’s look at 5 more reasons why #HEALTH FORALL matters: 1. Because health is a right, not a privilege. Hence, universal health care is no longer a talking point. The World Health Organization’s Constitution affirms that the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is a fundamental human right, and more than half of the world’s countries have included the right to health, public health or medical care in their national constitutions. Lack of affordable, quality health care traps families and nations in poverty. Our healthcare system needs “fundamental changes.” That’s according to more than 2,000 physicians who are calling for a government run single-payer healthcare system. ", It will take more than 100 economists and a sound financing plan to bring universal health care to the United States. Insurance operates by charging a monthly fee. It is not a new task, as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1967 speech, "America's Chief Moral Dilemma," reminds us: "It didn't cost the nation anything to integrate lunch counters; no expenses were involved; no taxes were involved. 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