Publicly funded medicine

Publicly funded medicine is a healthcare system that is financed entirely or in majority part by government funds (taxes or quasi-taxes). Publicly funded medicine is often referred to as "socialized medicine" or "nationalized medicine" by its opponents, whereas supporters of this approach tend to use the terms "universal healthcare", "single payer healthcare", or National Health Services. It is seen as a key part of a welfare state (see Welfare State for an interpretation in UK terms).

Related Topics:
Healthcare system - Tax - National Health Service - Welfare state

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Publicly funded medicine may be administered and provided by the government; however, in some systems, medicine is publicly funded but most health providers are private entities, such as in Canada. The organization providing public health insurance is not necessarily a public administration, and its budget may be isolated from the main state budget. Likewise, some systems do not necessarily provide universal healthcare or restrict coverage to public health facilities. Some countries, such as Germany, have multiple public insurance organizations linked by a common legal framework.

Related Topics:
Government - Canada - Germany

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Proponents claim publicly funded medicine has several advantages: universal access to health care, equality in matters of life and death, the reduction of paperwork and overhead expenses associated with multiple private health insurance schemes, and the creation of uniform standards of care. One important difference is the reduction in the percentage of societal resources devoted to medical care -- countries with publicly funded systems have been found to spend significantly less on health care as a percentage of their GDP than those with privately funded systems.

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Opponents claim publicly funded medicine has several disadvantages: a greater likelihood of lower quality health care than privately funded systems, less motivation for medical innovation and invention, long waiting lists for access to some medical treatments (particularly those of an advanced or specialized nature), and less motivation for society's most skilled people to enter health care professions because of lower monetary compensation.

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