Social Democratic Solidarity and the Welfare State: Health Care and Single-Tier Universality in Sweden and Canada.

Although it is not generally done, it is useful to compare the history of the evolution of universal health coverage (UHC) in Canada and Sweden. The majority of citizens in both countries have shared, and continue to share, a commitment to a strong form of single-tier universality in the design of their respective UHC systems. In the postwar era, they also share a remarkably similar timeline in the emergence and entrenchment of single-tier UHC, despite the political and social differences between the two countries. At the same time, UHC was initially designed, implemented, and managed by social democratic governments that held power for long periods of time, creating a path dependency for single-tier Medicare that was difficult for future governments of different ideological persuasions to alter.

Universal health coverage as a global public health goal: the work of the International Labour Organisation, c.1925-2018.

We examine the efforts of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to extend medical care under social security, through international conventions, advocacy and technical assistance. We consider the challenges faced by the ILO in advancing global health coverage through its labourist, social security model. The narrative begins in the interwar period, with the early conventions on sickness insurance, then discusses the rights-based universalistic vision expressed in the Philadelphia Declaration (1944). We characterize the ILO's postwar research and technical assistance as "progressive gradualism" then show how from the late-1970s the ILO became increasingly marginalized, though it retained an advisory role within the now dominant "co-operative pluralistic" model.

Universal health coverage as a global public health goal: the work of the International Labour Organisation, c. 1925-2018 / Cobertura universal como meta global de saúde pública: o trabalho da Organização Internacional do Trabalho, c. 1925-2018

Abstract We examine the efforts of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to extend medical care under social security, through international conventions, advocacy and technical assistance. We consider the challenges faced by the ILO in advancing global health coverage through its labourist, social security model. The narrative begins in the interwar period, with the early conventions on sickness insurance, then discusses the rights-based universalistic vision expressed in the Philadelphia Declaration (1944). We characterize the ILO's postwar research and technical assistance as "progressive gradualism" then show how from the late-1970s the ILO became increasingly marginalized, though it retained an advisory role within the now dominant "co-operative pluralistic" model.

Resumo Analisamos os esforços da Organização Internacional do Trabalho (OIT) em ampliar o cuidado médico sob seguridade social, via convenções, amparo e assistência técnica internacionais. Consideramos os desafios da OIT no desenvolvimento da cobertura global de saúde por meio do modelo trabalhista e de seguridade social. A narrativa inicia no período entreguerras, com as primeiras convenções sobre seguro saúde, depois discute a visão universalista baseada em direitos da Declaração da Filadélfia (1944). Classificamos a pesquisa e a assistência da OIT no pós-guerra como "gradualismo progressivo" e mostramos como, a partir do final da década de 1970, a OIT foi marginalizada, embora mantivesse um papel de conselheira dentro do atual modelo "pluralista cooperativo" dominante.

Universal health coverage and capital accumulation: a relationship unveiled by the critical political economy approach.

OBJECTIVES: To analyze the fundamentals of the global health agenda from 1944 to 2018, especially regarding Universal Health Coverage, in order to unveil its relations with capital accumulation in health services and to contribute to world social mobilization to change this tendency. METHODS: A historical study was carried out based on a purposeful selection of primary sources on the global health agenda from multilateral organizations and secondary sources about the changes of capitalism from the study period. RESULTS: The global health agenda changed from the state responsibility for health to an insurance healthcare system based on markets. The medical-industrial complex pressured national economies, broke postwar pacts, and urged economic globalization. The neoliberal, neoclassical, and neo-institutional discourse that promoted a new state-market relationship eased the new capital accumulation in healthcare into financial and cognitive capitalism. CONCLUSIONS: Understanding these relationships allows us to provide elements for social mobilization geared to transform the healthcare sector toward a new vision of health with a nature-society relationship that contributes to socially constructing human and environmental health, rather than gaining profits based on illness and chronic suffering.

Beautiful Harmony of the Japanese Precious Healthcare Legacies for the New Imperial Era.

The new Imperial era, Reiwa, started in May, 2019. After World War II, Reiwa is the third Imperial era following Showa and Heisei. In each era, we had specific healthcare problems in cardiovascular medicine and implemented preventive strategies against them. Furthermore, nationwide healthcare policies such as a universal healthcare insurance system (kaihoken) and health check-up system largely contribute to overcoming these problems. Here, we summarize the specific issues in cardiovascular medicine and nationwide strategies policies against them in each era. We also describe what we should do in the new Imperial era from the cardiovascular viewpoint.

Political Accommodations in Multipayer Health Care Systems: Implications for the United States.

Current interest in a single-payer approach to universal health care coverage in the United States has also triggered interest in alternative multipayer approaches to the same goal.An analysis of experiences in Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Israel shows how the founding of each system required a distinctive political settlement and how the subsequent timing, content, and course of the reforms were shaped by political circumstances and adjustments to the founding bargain in each nation.Although none of these systems is directly transferable to the United States, certain parallels with the American context suggest that a multipayer approach might offer a model for universal coverage that is more politically feasible than a single-payer scheme but also that issues associated with risk selection and other potential inequities would remain.

Legal and policy requirements of basic health insurance package to achieve universal health coverage in a developing country.

OBJECTIVES: This study has analyzed the policy-making requirements related to basic health insurance package at the national level with a systematic view. RESULTS: All the documents presented since the enactment of universal health insurance in Iran from 1994 to 2017 were included applying Scott method for assuring meaningfulness, authenticity, credibility and representativeness. Then, content analysis was conducted applying MAXQDA10. The legal and policy requirements related to basic health insurance package were summarized into three main themes and 11 subthemes. The main themes include three kinds of requirements at three level of third party insurer, health care provider and citizen/population that contains 5 (financing insurance package, organizational structure, tariffing and purchasing the benefit packages and integration of policies and precedents), 4 (determining the necessities, provision of services, rules relating to implementation and covered services) and 2 (expanded coverage of population and insurance premiums) sub themes respectively. According to the results, Iranian policy makers should notice three axes of third party insurers, health providers and population of the country to prepare an appropriate basic benefit package based on local needs for all the people that can access with no financial barriers in order to be sure of achieving UHC.

Trends and projections of universal health coverage indicators in Ghana, 1995-2030: A national and subnational study.

Ghana has made significant stride towards universal health coverage (UHC) by implementing the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in 2003. This paper investigates the progress of UHC indicators in Ghana from 1995 to 2015 and makes future predictions up to 2030 to assess the probability of achieving UHC targets. National representative surveys of Ghana were used to assess health service coverage and financial risk protection. The analyses estimated the coverage of 13 prevention and four treatment service indicators at the national level and across wealth quintiles. In addition, we calculated catastrophic health payments and impoverishment to assess financial hardship and used a Bayesian regression model to estimate trends and future projections as well as the probabilities of achieving UHC targets by 2030. Wealth-based inequalities and regional disparities were also assessed. At the national level, 14 out of the 17 health service indicators are projected to reach the target of 80% coverage by 2030. Across wealth quintiles, inequalities were observed amongst most indicators with richer groups obtaining more coverage than their poorer counterparts. Subnational analysis revealed while all regions will achieve the 80% coverage target with high probabilities for the prevention services, the same cannot be applied to the treatment services. In 2015, the proportion of households that suffered catastrophic health payments and impoverishment at a threshold of 25% non-food expenditure were 1.9% (95%CrI: 0.9-3.5) and 0.4% (95%CrI: 0.2-0.8), respectively. These are projected to reduce to 0.4% (95% CrI: 0.1-1.3) and 0.2% (0.0-0.5) respectively by 2030. Inequality measures and subnational assessment revealed that catastrophic expenditure experienced by wealth quintiles and regions are not equal. Significant improvements were seen in both health service coverage and financial risk protection over the years. However, inequalities across wealth quintiles and regions continue to be cause of concerns. Further efforts are needed to narrow these gaps.

"Imagine All the People:" Andrija Stampar's Ideology in The Context of Contemporary Public Health Initiatives

Recently, the World Health Organization launched its Universal Health Coverage initiative with the aim to improve access to quality health care on a global level, without causing financial hardship to the patients. In this paper, we will identify and analyze the ideological similarities between this influential initiative and the work of one of the founders of the WHO-Andrija Stampar (1888-1958)-whose social medicine was built of various normative, sociological and philosophical elements. Our aim is to demonstrate the crucial role of carefully erected and thought-out ideology for the success of public health programs.

Sri Lanka and the possibilities of achieving universal health coverage in a poor country.

Sri Lanka has been lauded for providing good health coverage at a low cost despite having a modest per capita income. This article identifies the unique historical factors that enabled Sri Lanka to achieve near universal coverage, but it also discusses how this achievement is now being undermined by inadequate government investment in health services, the burdens of non-communicable diseases, and the growing privatisation of health services. In doing so, the article highlights the challenges of achieving and maintaining universal health coverage in a relatively low income country with a health system designed to treat infectious diseases and provide child and maternal health services as the country undergoes an epidemiological transition from infectious to non-communicable diseases. Using updated information on developments in the Sri Lankan health system, this article argues, in contrast with earlier publications, that Sri Lanka is no longer providing good health at a low cost. It shows that Sri Lanka's low investment in health is detrimental and not an asset to achieving good health. The article also questions the possibilities of providing coverage for noncommunicable diseases at a low cost. The article has four main sections. The first details Sri Lanka's accomplishments in moving toward universal health coverage. The second identifies the factors enabling Sri Lanka to do so. The third describes the equity and access challenges the health system now confronts. The fourth assesses what the Sri Lankan experience suggests about the requirements for universal health coverage when providing health services for treating non-communicable diseases becomes an important consideration.

From health for all to universal health coverage: Alma Ata is still relevant.

With increasing adoption of universal health coverage (UHC), the health for all agenda is resurgent around the world. However, after a promising start the first time in 1978, the health for all agenda fizzled over the next decade. This commentary discusses the origin of the health for all agenda in the 1970s and the influence of global politico-economic forces in shaping that agenda, its demise and the resurgence in the form of UHC in the twenty-first century. We discuss UHC's focus on finances and the increasing role of market economy in health care, and the opportunities and risks UHC poses. We conclude by saying that UHC's greater focus on finances is prudent, but in order to achieve its promise, UHC needs to regulate the market based provision of healthcare, and incorporate more of the people and community centered ethos of its earlier iteration from 40 years ago.

The Rise and Fall of "Universal Health Coverage" as a Goal of International Health Politics, 1925-1952.

The UN Sustainable Development Goals of 2015 have restored universal health coverage (UHC) to prominence in the international health agenda. Can understanding the past illuminate the prospects for UHC in the present? This article traces an earlier history of UHC as an objective of international health politics. Its focus is the efforts of the International Labor Organization (ILO), whose Philadelphia Declaration (1944) announced the goal of universal social security, including medical coverage and care. After World War II, the ILO attempted to enshrine this in an international convention, which nation states would ratify. However, by 1952 these efforts had failed, and the final convention was so diluted that universalism was unobtainable. Our analysis first explains the consolidation of ideas about social security and health care, tracing transnational policy linkages among experts whose world view transcended narrow loyalties. We then show how UHC goals became marginalized, through the opposition of employers and organized medicine, and of certain nation states, both rich and poor. We conclude with reflections on how these findings might help us in thinking about the challenges of advancing UHC today.

The development and impact of primary health care in China from 1949 to 2015: A focused review.

High-quality primary health care (PHC) services are associated with better health outcomes and positive health equity. Providing PHC services to all inhabitants is one of the Chinese government's health care objectives. However, an imbalance between people's increasing health needs and effective health service utilization exists in China. The objective of this review is to identify evidence for PHC development in China and to summarize the challenges as a reference for the future improvement of China's PHC system. Literature searches related to China's PHC were performed in PubMed, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Wan-fang databases. Related data were collected from the China Statistical Yearbook on Health and Family Planning 2003-2016, the China National Health Accounts Report 2015, and An Analysis Report of National Health Services Survey in China, 2013. The PHC network and the population's health have improved in China in recent years, with general practitioners as "gatekeepers" who have gradually taken the initiative to offer health services to residents. The limitation of input and shortages of resources and skilled health care providers may restrict the sustainable development of China's PHC system. Therefore, policy support from the government is necessary.