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).

Varieties of public systems

The large majority of industrial societies currently have publicly funded health systems that cover the great majority of the population. For some examples, see the British National Health Service, or medicare in Canada and in Australia. However, the role of the government in healthcare provision is a source of continued debate where opinions diverge sharply.

Related Topics:
Industrial societies - British National Health Service - Canada - Australia

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Even among these countries, different approaches exist to the funding and provision of medical services. Some areas of difference are whether the system is funded from general government revenues (as in Italy and Canada), or through a government social security system (as in France, Japan, and Germany) acting under a separate budget and funded with special separate taxes. Another difference is how much of the cost of care will be paid for by the government or social security system. In Canada, all hospital care is paid for by the government, while in Japan patients must pay 10 to 30% of the cost of a hospital stay.

Related Topics:
Italy - France - Japan

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Services covered by public systems vary. For example, the Belgian government pays the bulk of the fees for dental and eye care, while the Australian government covers neither.

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Every health care system in the world is facing funding problems, because new innovations in heath care are sometimes very expensive, and because a growing percentage of the population is elderly and generally needs more health care, while the percentage of working (and thus tax-paying) persons decreases.

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