Systems of Other Countries

Notes

• Canada: 86% citizen support
• China: a country that shifted to privatized care and now is trying to recover; a very painful result for the Chinese people
• Taiwan, which chose Canada as its model to reference when it created its health insurance system in the 1990’s

Comparisons

• Health Care Options at a Glance, by Yes! Magazine, a comparison of:
  • Socialized system - Great Britain
  • Single-Payer - Canada
  • Nonprofit Multi-Payer - France
  • Corporate Health Care - United States
• Canadian and U.S. Health Services - Let’s Compare the Two - PNHP 07-10-07
  • Reference: Wall St. Journal LETTERS 7-08-07

Descriptions of Multiple Countries in One Article or Web Page

• International Health Systems - PNHP¹, based on multiple sources, documented by PNHP
  • Australia
  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Canada – single-payer national health insurance? No: 13 payers.
    Correction to the information in the first paragraph of the article: Canada does not have true single-payer health care. Canada’s health care has 13 payers and 13 plans. As it accurately states in the article, Canadian health care is “… administered by the provinces …” There are variations in plans across the provinces and territories of Canada, which is one of the reasons that the U.S. will have the best health care for all system with its unquely-American, true,
    single-payer health care, improved Medicare for All.
  • Cuba
  • Finland
  • Denmark – single-payer national health insurance
  • France – highly regulated, universal, multi-payer health insurance ***
  • Germany – highly regulated, universal, multi-payer health insurance ***
  • Japan
  • The Netherlands
  • New Zealand
  • Norway – single-payer national health insurance
  • Spain – national health services²
  • South Africa
  • Sweden – single-payer national health insurance
  • Taiwan
  • The United Kingdom (Great Britain) – national health services³

*** These multi-payer insurance systems are primarily funded by non-profit, government-regulated Sickness Insurance Funds (SIF’s).
For more information, go to the PNHP summary of International Health Systems.

Special Note About Single-Payer

International evidence is so strongly in favor of … single payer national health insurance, that the most recent four countries to adopt new programs have adopted single payer. These are Germany and Japan’s new long-term care programs (adopted in the 1990’s), and acute care programs in Taiwan (1996)and Thailand. – U.S. Representative John Conyers’ web site