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What Countries Have Universal Health Care?
A few nights ago, I watched Michael Moore's new documentary, SiCKO, which focuses its crosshair on the health care industry in the United States. At one point in the movie, Mr. Moore claims that the United States is the only "westernized" country without universal health care. Is that true?First, what does he mean by "westernized"? Defining the "western world" can be subjective, and definitions will vary depending on what criteria is used. Are you defining it from a cultural standpoint? Political? Economical? Perhaps this is why Mr. Moore felt comfortable making such a broad generalization. Is it even possible to truly define what the "western world" really is?
Okay, forget the western world. (I think I know what he meant anyway.) What countries on our good green Earth provide some sort of universal health care for their citizens? Here they are:
Countries in blue have some type of universal health care. Countries in green are currently attempting to implement some type of universal health care. Orange countries have universal health coverage provided by United States war funding. Source. Click to enlarge.
Afghanistan*, Argentina, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Cuba, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iraq*, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Oman, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Ukraine and the United Kingdom
*Universal health coverage provided by United States war funding
There you go. Keep in mind: this is a simple list of countries that have some sort of publicly sponsored health care system. For instance, Sri Lanka may be far from having a true, working universal health care system like France, but prescription drugs are provided by a government-owned drug manufacturer. This qualifies as "some sort of publicly sponsored, universal health care system."
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 7)
Colette Jul 5th 2007 4:50PM
I have a serious problem with socialized health care... and anyone who has been to a charity hospital will know what I'm talking about. For example, I went to the charity hospital in my city last month. I had a bacterial skin infection and strep throat. I also inquired about an existing knee injury. I walked out of the hospital with one prescription that I couldn't afford, another I was allergic to, and was told that I needed knee surgery to repair an ACL tear, but the wait was three+ years, unless I wanted to pay for a 20,000 dollar procedure out of pocket. Another example, a Canadian friend of mine broke his leg in three places skateboarding. Because the wait for surgery was so long, his leg healed before the surgery was done. When they finally got around to the surgery NINE MONTHS later, they had to re-break his leg and then pin it so it would heal correctly. That was four years ago and he still walks with a limp. You tell me why it's a bad idea....
Vasco Ferreira Jul 2nd 2008 6:35PM
public hospitals are not charity hospitals, here in Europe normally the public hospitals have the best doctors and the best service, we only use the private hospitals to take exams or samples because its faster and not that expensive, but if I had an emergency or a cirurgy I would need to do I would do it on the public hospitals, never on the private, and I can afford a private hospital, but why should I pay more there if the best service is in the public hospital? thats way I pay my taxes no??
Jessica Sep 15th 2008 1:55AM
The "black and white" is that socialized healthcare is working in other countries and overall working very well. The "grey" is that nothing is perfect; however, It continues to horrify me how one negative story can turn a person against this. A person hears a story from a friend of a friend about their two hour wait or a broken leg that did not get mended fast enough and all of a sudden the entire concept is terrible. HELLO!! WAKE UP! LOOK AROUND!! OUR privatized healthcare KILLS people; OUR privatized healthcare DEMORALIZES people; OUR privatized healthcare BREAKS people!!
With socialized healthcare we will not have doctors who have been taught as part of their schooling how to make more money.
With socialized healthcare we will not have doctors who become doctors for the money, prestige, and power. (at least not as many lol)
Imagine that.
Rory Flick Sep 23rd 2008 2:18PM
First of all you have got to understand that universal health care is not charity health care. It is provided for out of your tax money that you are currently spending on unmeccessary things like a failed war for one that is costing billions a month. If you were to take an educated look at universal health care in other countries such as the UK, France and my Canada, you would see your concerns are invalid. Now I will say that they are not without problems. Specifically scheduling. Now as the great country the United States boasts to be, I'm quite sure it can implement better mangement techniques to solve this and other issues. Wouldn't you agree? Yankee know how and all. It is shown in these other countries that it could work. So instead of being a lazy defeatist, why don't you stand up and MAKE it work.
Brittney Oct 20th 2008 5:38PM
I think some of you people are nuts. You look at one or two single handed stories and you freak out. If half of you were intelligent and new anything you would realize that "socialized" health care works. I could tell you many times where I have sat in an emergency room for hours and hours waiting for someone to take care of my injury and we don't have universal health care. There are pros and cons of every situation but you have to look past yourself and your little group of people and open your eyes. There are so many people in the U.S. who lost their jobs because the GOVERNMENT sent their job overseas and now they are left without a job and benefits. Therefore those people can't take care of their kids or themselves. So, just because it isn't pertaining to you at this moment in time I'm sure that if you were unable to afford a procedure that would cost you more money than you have ever seen in your life you would like someone to help YOU instead of letting you die. So maybe you should read up on this a little better and look at the overall picture instead of a few stories from people you know.
Dee Nov 6th 2008 11:42AM
I live right here in the good old USA. I live in Orange County. I supposedly have some of the best hospitals in the world. I gave birth 2001. My doctor gave me a very bad episiotomy. He went home for dinner while I was having contractions. A very young nurse was watching me. She left the room at one point. Eventually my great doctor (had of gyn dept) came back and created a painful cut. I ended up with a very bad infection that resulted in 3 costly surgeries. I had a very good PPO. I was given little sympathy for my situation. Thank god I found a great doctor in Newport Beach. He fixed what my other doctor screwed up. This cost me a lot of money and time. All I am saying is that infections and problems occur with profit based hospitals too. Mistakes occur all the time and are covered up. Let's face it. Most people will not be able to handle thousands of dollars in hospital bills. Health care in the US is not so swell right now. Wait until more corporations stop offering health care as a benefit. It is coming.
Cleo Nov 7th 2008 12:30PM
To anyone out there who screams that universal health care is so horrible. I am giving you a challenge. Get rid of your employer based coverage, and then try as an individual to get your own plan. You will find that the rates will double, and the health insurance companies will find ANY reason to shut you out of the system. Individual plans aren't cost effective for insurance companies. So if you have ANY prior medical problems, or issues they will be used against you and you will not be covered. And when one large companies refuses to cover you, you will also find that NO COMPANY will cover you. I went through this nightmare myself, and my "medical crime" was that I had a biopsy (negative) done when I was 23. And Blue Cross Blue Shield said that 23 yr. old's shouldn't have biopsies. Therefore I was shut out, and no one would sell me insurance. It was about 10 years ago in the state of Illinois. I now live in a state where I cannot be denied coverage for medical reasons, NY. One of two states in the nation, NY and MA that by law have to cover everyone. Although in NY people still have problems getting coverage, the insurance companies try to ignore you and hope you go away, they lose paperwork, refuse to return calls, you constantly talk to new people, etc. etc. etc.. I am currently in a group plan with an Freelancer's organization and I have very expensive and somewhat thin coverage. Also if you still don't believe me, go to a cancer hospital and just ask the parents of children with cancer how they are paying for the treatment. Most have put up their homes, or have had entire extended families spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to try to save one child. I volunteer at a hospital and I have seen this first hand! Our system is broken and rotten to the core, we need reform. I don't think we should adopt England or Canada's systems but there are many different types of Universal health care practiced all over the world. Let's look at what works and what doesn't and start from there.
jvega Feb 9th 2009 12:38PM
Universal Healthcare does not mean "charity", it's not free, you still pay for it in a form of Income Tax. There is no such thing as "Charity Hospitals", the purpose of Universal Healthcare is so that everyone gets the care they need for whatever ailment they have without the insurance companies playing doctor and deciding what they can and cannot pay for.
Bruce Bergman Apr 15th 2009 12:17AM
I'm a Canadian and have no problem with our health care. I have had broken legs,renal collapse, diabetes and many other hospital emergencies and have never had to wait for anything. I personally know of at least 15 friends who have had emergency cancers and none of them had to wait for anything either. I know it does happen my brother in law had a 2 month wait for his MRI so he went to the US cause they said it was none life threatening, which it was. The US system is designed for the rich. Most insurance will only cover a certain amount. If you have a long lasting cancer (more than 3 months of hospital care) good luck, that's when you loose your house. I really don't want to rely on a company who's bottom line is money when it comes to my health. I realize our system has some problems but that is directly related to the government cutbacks on health care, when that started to happen that is when we started to see the lack of Cat scans ,and MRIs ETC. A good friend of mine who is both and American and Canadian had testicular cancer 10 years ago, it took him 3 years of treatment and 6 months on and off in a hospital with 3 operations. He is totally cancer free now and said if he was in the US he would of lost his house for sure. I am for Universal Health care..... Bruce Bergman
paul Jul 5th 2007 8:41PM
Working people would never get help because the welfare,trailer trash bumbs would take it over with everything from a hangnail to a nose bleed, after all it's free and they have rights!
marsy Dec 8th 2007 4:16PM
oh horse shit . do you have children ? i do .my ex husband owes them 120,000 dollars in backed child support and health insurance. guess they will never see it. if the united states would stay the fuck out of every one elses hair and stop spending americans hard made dollars on war, war for oil,and every other stupid foreign adventure dick BUSH wants to go we could pay for all americans health care. before i was a mother i was a nurse .i went home crying alot at night because of the treatment medicare and medicaid patients recieved.it was not top rate. to top it off these people were treated like shit by people like you. these people had worked all their lives, they were honest, caring and many served their country in some way or another just because you serve your country doesn't mean it always takes care of you. what i do resent are doctors bringing foreing children from asia, south america, and iraq, for reconstructive surgery on a daily basis. you see it ever day on the news. don't we have our own people to care for? that should piss you off . american doctors giving foreign children free health care and telling its own to fuck off and die. and yes people are dying over this.
John Mar 5th 2009 1:14AM
you fool
joared Jul 7th 2007 7:43AM
Why can't we make a list of all that's wrong with the universal health care programs in these other countries, and just make sure any universal plan in this country is designed to avoid those problems?
John Mar 5th 2009 1:15AM
amen
Ronan Jul 9th 2007 2:18PM
I live in ireland and we have free health care for all,But this is not as good as it seems.If you want to use it be prepaired for a long long long waiting list. So long in fact that recently our goverment decided to start paying for people on the waiting list for longer than 6 months to travel abroad and under go treatments in private hospitals there.Like most people in ireland i have private health insurance this enables you to be treated in a much quicker time eg recently i needed an operation on my knee, 3 weeks after my first visit i was operated on.The same day my doctor was doing the same operation on a public paticent who was waiting 2 years for the operation!!
peter Oct 24th 2008 11:00PM
I'm American And my wife is from Spain on our last visit I got sick went to-the clinic and was taken care of within 15 min at no cost because my wife was born in the country. We later had another problem with my wife she also was treated the same day.We live in the Boston area and when my wife wants to see her doctor she has to wait between 3 and 6 months. and that's with blue cross blue shield .So it's my opinion that universal health care is better. It will also force down the cost of private insurance
TWIN Jul 8th 2009 10:55PM
That's why we need to create more jobs in the medical field or at least make them available to more people.
happyInCanada Jul 9th 2007 5:57PM
I just finished watching Sicko.
I feel so terribly sorry for all you Americans. I can't believe you'd sell the deaths of your fellow citizens for more dividends. I'm happy here in Canada. Two knee operations, my dad had triple bypass and a family member on permanent mental healthcare.
all free.
Good luck to you
Wanda Oct 18th 2008 4:07PM
Your last line stated that it was all free. Your health care is not free. You pay for it with taxes and long waits.
vonna Oct 23rd 2008 1:16PM
Sounds great but hey, IT'S NOT FREE! TAXES!!!! TAXES DEDUCTED FROM YOUR PAY CHECK!!!! TAXES!!! TAXES YOU HAVE TO PAY IN ORDER FOR EVERYONE IN YOUR COUNTRY TO GET "FREE" HEALTH CARE!!!! With those taxes deducted from YOUR paycheck, YOUR hard earned money is pawned off on healthcare for EVERYONE. Therefore, YOU have less money to provide for you and your family. Would you rather put food on the table every week or pay for the bum down the street to take a trip to the emergency room for alcohol poisoning?