Financing Universal Access to Healthcare

10.1142/10629 ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander S Preker
Keyword(s):  
Universal Access ◽  
Access To Healthcare

scholarly journals Universal Access to Healthcare: The Case of South Africa in the Comparative Global Context of the Late Anthropocene Era

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Solomon Benatar ◽  
Stephen Gill
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
National Health ◽  
Universal Access ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Access To Healthcare ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Sustainable Improvement ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Private And Public

Much current global debate – as well as a great deal of political rhetoric – about global health and healthcare is characterised by a renewed emphasis on the goal of universal access throughout the world. While this goal has been achieved to varying extents in the United Kingdom, Canada and many countries in Europe, even within those countries where national health systems have long been in place, the pervasive shift in emphasis from health as a social value to health as a commodity within a capitalist market civilization is eroding the commitment to equitable access to healthcare. Against this background the challenge is much greater in low- and middle-income countries that lag behind – especially if aspirations to universal access go beyond primary care. The challenges of achieving greater equity in access to health and in health outcomes, in a middle-income country like South Africa, illustrate the magnitude of the tensions and gaps that need to be traversed, given the vast differences between healthcare provided in the private and public sectors. Understandably the concept of National Health Insurance (NHI) in South Africa has widespread support. The strategies for how a successful and effective NHI could be implemented, over what time-frame and what it covers are, however, very controversial issues. What tends to be ignored is that sustainable improvement in health in South Africa, and elsewhere, is not determined merely by medical care but more especially by social structures intimately linked to deeply entrenched local and global social, economic and political forces and inequalities. While seldom openly addressed, some of these forces are explicated in this article to supplement views elsewhere, although most have elided emphasis on the pervasive effects of the global political economy on the provisioning and practising of health and healthcare everywhere on our planet.

The Hidden Face of Medical Intervention

2019 ◽  
pp. 188-211
Author(s):  
Samuel Beaudoin
Keyword(s):  
Health Promotion ◽  
Health Monitoring ◽  
Universal Access ◽  
Medical Intervention ◽  
Access To Healthcare ◽  
Scientific Development ◽  
Ethical Considerations ◽  
Access To Medical Care ◽  
Access To Data ◽  
Population Health Monitoring

In health promotion discourses, access to medical care is presented as a universal remedy. As a result, ethical considerations are often limited to the issue of equitable access. Yet focusing on access to healthcare hides the issue of access to data needed for scientific development. Putting into place a system for saving lives involves population health monitoring and is founded on scientific rationality. This chapter refocuses political attention from medical intervention to what makes it possible. In doing so, the underlying ethical issue shifts from a concern with universal access to healthcare—considered a right from an equity standpoint—to a discussion of the options and consequences of a type of government based on science. The author puts forward the idea that it is not because it is technically and scientifically possible to do something that it should be done. To illustrate this argument, the chapter discusses the example of The Lancet's project on stillbirths (2011-2030) taken up by the WHO.

Rights of access to healthcare for undocumented migrants: understanding the Italian and British national health systems

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 232-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danielle da Costa Leite Borges ◽  
Caterina Francesca Guidi
Keyword(s):  
Health System ◽  
Health Systems ◽  
National Health ◽  
Universal Access ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Access To Healthcare ◽  
Health Policies ◽  
Undocumented Migrants ◽  
Content Type ◽  
British Health

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse the levels of access to healthcare available to undocumented migrants in the Italian and British health systems through a comparative analysis of health policies for this population in these two national health systems. Design/methodology/approach It builds on textual and legal analysis to explore the different meanings that the principle of universal access to healthcare might have according to literature and legal documents in the field, especially those from the human rights domain. Then, the concept of universal access, in theory, is contrasted with actual health policies in each of the selected countries to establish its meaning in practice and according to the social context. The analysis relies on policy papers, data on health expenditure, legal statutes and administrative regulations and is informed by one research question: What background conditions better explain more universal and comprehensive health systems for undocumented migrants? Findings By answering this research question the paper concludes that the Italian health system is more comprehensive than the British health system insofar it guarantees access free of charge to different levels of care, including primary, emergency, preventive and maternity care, while the rule in the British health system is the recovering of charges for the provision of services, with few exceptions. One possible legal explanation for the differences in access between Italy and UK is the fact that the right to health is not recognised as a fundamental constitutional right in the latter as it is in the former. Originality/value The paper contributes to ongoing debates on Universal Health Coverage and migration, and dialogues with recent discussions on social justice and welfare state typologies.

Universal Access on the American Commons

1994 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 627-628
Author(s):  
Joseph C. d'Oronzio
Keyword(s):  
Medical Care ◽  
Universal Access ◽  
Code Word ◽  
Access To Healthcare ◽  
Financial Resources ◽  
Ethical Imperative ◽  
Sick People

As the concept of universal access to healthcare comes to America, an ethical paradox emerges. “Access” is the code word for being assured that sick people without financial resources get appropriate medical care. There is an ethical imperative to provide care for the sick – whether paying or not – and this value ought to give direction to any reformed system.

scholarly journals Access To Healthcare as A Fundamental Right or Privilege?

2021 ◽  
Vol 73 (10) ◽  
pp. 721-726
Author(s):  
Tengiz Verulava
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Risk ◽  
Universal Access ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Right To Health ◽  
Access To Healthcare ◽  
Economic Relations ◽  
Medical Market ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Right

Right to health is a government obligation to provide its citizens with necessary medical services regardless of their ability to pay. The right to health requires the state to develop policies and action plans to achieve accessible health care. Ensuring access to healthcare services is an important social responsibility; because of its socio-economic nature, demand for it often carries not only individual but also social aspects that need to be considered and requires the consolidation of consumer funds. Peculiarities of the medical market such as health risk and uncertainty, incomplete information, limited competition, external effects, production of public goods, lead to special forms of economic relations in the medical market, which requires the development of appropriate regulatory mechanisms. In countries, where an individual’s financial contribution to health care does not depend on his or her health risk, there is a principle of universal health care, which covers the entire population. Human is a higher social capital for whom health care is considered a right and not a privilege not only for humanistic and moral reasons, but also for rational, utilitarian approaches, as universal access benefits both the individual and society as it increases labor productivity.

A Jewish Perspective on Access to Healthcare

1998 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 260-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
NOAM J. ZOHAR
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Medical Care ◽  
Universal Access ◽  
Access To Healthcare ◽  
Jewish Tradition ◽  
Life Threatening ◽  
Traditional Institutions ◽  
To Receive

Can anyone doubt that the Jewish tradition mandates universal access to healthcare? In a comprehensive and illuminating discussion, A.L. Mackler seems to have already said all that needs to be said. After aptly analyzing the principles of the traditional institutions and norms relating to tzedakah (social justice, or welfare), Mackler proceeded to apply these traditions to the context of healthcare, concluding thatSociety has the responsibility to ensure that needed medical care is provided to those who would otherwise be unable to receive it... Medical care for potentially life-threatening conditions justifies extraordinary expenditures, and represents an urgent obligation of society. (p. 150)

A Framework for Guiding Health Literacy Research in Populations With Universal Access to Healthcare

2008 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 308-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
CPT Konstantine Keian Weld ◽  
Diane Padden ◽  
Gloria Ramsey ◽  
Sandra C. Garmon Bibb
Keyword(s):  
Health Literacy ◽  
Universal Access ◽  
Access To Healthcare ◽  
Literacy Research
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