Achieving Universal Healthcare in the United States: Comparisons to an International Context

Health systems operating at an optimum level of performance strive to meet three key measurements: universal access by the population, low cost services, and high-quality care. We discuss our forthcoming paper on achieving universal healthcare in the United States in this blogpost.

The first section focuses on health systems in an international context where we evaluate the health systems of 10 countries around the world. The results show that many countries utilize a combination of services and features and that no two countries have the same health care system and features. The second section goes over the United State’s health system in an international context where the history and current status of notable policies, such as Medicaid, Medicare, and the Affordable Care Act is further elaborated. Here, certain comparisons are made between select OECD countries and the US in regards to health outcomes. The paper then concludes with the recommendation that in order to better achieve universal health care, a public option should be introduced. In the discussion section, how this change may affect the quality, access, and cost of health care and what the potential limitations and tradeoffs are is also taken into consideration.

About the author: Aurelia Li is a second-year undergraduate student at NYU planning to study Global Public/Biology in CAS (College of Arts and Science).