Health care reform is on everyone's mind these days. New proposals are coming from the Senate and from the House. President Obama has made reform a priority.
Universality of access to health insurance is the most pressing issue. Universal health care simply means coverage for all eligible residents of a political area. The United States is the only industrialized country that has not implemented a universal system for citizens under age 65.
Universal health care can be implemented in several ways. In some countries the government directly manages the health care system. This is usually called socialized medicine. In most countries universal coverage is achieved by a mix of public and private funding. Taxation is the primary source of funding but is supplemented by private payor arrangements.
In 2000 the World Health Organization (WHO) produced a report which ranked all the health insurance systems used by its member countries. The is the report usually quoted when discussing both the good and bad features of a health insurance system.
Universality of access to health insurance is the most pressing issue. Universal health care simply means coverage for all eligible residents of a political area. The United States is the only industrialized country that has not implemented a universal system for citizens under age 65.
Universal health care can be implemented in several ways. In some countries the government directly manages the health care system. This is usually called socialized medicine. In most countries universal coverage is achieved by a mix of public and private funding. Taxation is the primary source of funding but is supplemented by private payor arrangements.
In 2000 the World Health Organization (WHO) produced a report which ranked all the health insurance systems used by its member countries. The is the report usually quoted when discussing both the good and bad features of a health insurance system.
It should be noted that the WHO has indicated it will no longer produce a ranking table because of the complexity of the task. The criteria for ranking the health care systems was based on a wide variety of findings, including but not limited to, life expectancy, infant mortality and cost.
Many people know that the United States ranked 37th out of 198 countries and that Canada ranked 30th. But do you know what the top 10 best health care system in the world are?
The top 10 in the order determined by the World Health Organization
1. France
2. Italy
3. San Marino
4. Andorra
5. Malta
6. Singapore
7. Spain
8. Oman
9. Austria
10. Japan
When the United Nations was formed in 1945 one of the entities that the delegates discussed was setting up an organization to monitor and assess global health trends. The World Health Organization (the WHO) came into being on April 7,1948. World Health Day is celebrated every year on that date in recognition of the WHO.
Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the WHO is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system. All countries which are Members of the United Nations may become members of the WHO by accepting its Constitution which currently has 198 participating nations.