Health Equity, Social Policy, and Promoting Recovery from COVID-19

2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (6) ◽  
pp. 983-995 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Lynch
Keyword(s):  
Population Health ◽  
Health Equity ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
Social Solidarity ◽  
Universal Health Insurance ◽  
Improve Population Health ◽  
Economic Equality ◽  
The Social ◽  
Near Term ◽  
Universal Health

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed starkly and publicly the close interconnections between social and economic equality, health equity, and population health. To better understand what social policies would best promote population health, economic recovery, and preparedness for future pandemics, one must look both upstream and abroad for inspiration. In this article, the author argues for a suite of near-term and longer-term interventions, including universal health insurance and paid sick leave; upgraded wage insurance policies; tax reform; investments in parental leave, childcare, and education; and upgraded government record systems. Policies that equalize the distribution of the social determinants of health and promote social solidarity also will improve population health and economic performance and allow everyone to confront future pandemics more successfully.

Governing healthcare: the case of Universal Health Insurance – by competition

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cliona Loughnane
Keyword(s):  
Health Insurance ◽  
Health System ◽  
Access To Care ◽  
Equal Access ◽  
Universal Health Insurance ◽  
Social State ◽  
The Social ◽  
Liberal Government ◽  
The Government ◽  
Universal Health

In 2011, the Government committed to the introduction of Universal Health Insurance (UHI) ‘with equal access to care for all’ by 2016 (Government of Ireland 2011: 2). This chapter explores how proposals to implement a system in which every member of the population would be expected to take out health insurance – and mooted by politicians as a way to end Ireland’s two-tier health system – exhibited particular characteristics of advanced liberal modes of governing.Specifically, drawing on Rose and Miller’s (1992) conceptualisation of the ‘aspirations’ of advanced liberal government – governing at a distance, the management of risk, engendering individuals to take responsibility through choice, and the fragmentation of the social state into multiple communities – this chapter demonstrates how while a political rhetoric may have stressed the significance of UHI as a basis for promoting solidarity and fairness, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that the policy would have represented a further shift towards the marketization of Irish healthcare.

What Is Replacing Religion?

2020 ◽  
pp. 103-143
Author(s):  
Ronald F. Inglehart
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Change ◽  
Belief Systems ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Solidarity ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Health Coverage ◽  
Economic Equality ◽  
Welfare Spending ◽  
Democratic Norms ◽  
Universal Health

People have evolved to seek patterns and explanations and seek to put them together into coherent belief systems. This is conducive to mental health. People need coherent belief systems, but religion is declining. What comes next? Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and the Netherlands have consistently been at the cutting edge of cultural change since 1990. Protestantism left an enduring imprint, but the welfare state that emerged in the 20th century added universal health coverage; high levels of state support for education, welfare spending, child care, and pensions; and an ethos of social solidarity. These countries are also characterized by rapidly declining religiosity. What does this portend? Today, these countries rank high on numerous indicators of a well-functioning society, including economic equality, gender equality, low homicide rates, subjective well-being, environmental protection, and democracy. They have become less religious, but their people have high levels of interpersonal trust, tolerance, honesty, social solidarity, and commitment to democratic norms.

Personal Cost

2019 ◽  
pp. 81-165
Author(s):  
Alex Rajczi
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Insurance ◽  
Universal Health Insurance ◽  
Health Insurance System ◽  
Insurance System ◽  
Personal Cost ◽  
The Social ◽  
Theories Of Justice ◽  
Personal Costs ◽  
Universal Health

Some people object to social minimum programs, including certain health care programs, because they believe the programs impose excessive taxes and other personal costs on those who fund them. This chapter argues that the most plausible philosophical reconstruction of this objection would rely on a personal cost principle which says that, in general, the proper level of the social minimum is at least partly a function of whether the benefits provided by the social minimum programs outweigh the costs, when judged on a scale that assigns disproportionate weight to those who bear the costs. It is argued that the personal cost principle can find a place within several plausible theories of justice, and that, in addition, the benefits of a well-designed universal health insurance system outweigh its costs.

scholarly journals Separated at Birth: The Politics of Pharmacare for All in Canada and Medicare for All in the United States Comment on "Universal Pharmacare in Canada"

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn Hughes Tuohy
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Universal Health Insurance ◽  
Prescription Drug Coverage ◽  
Single Payer ◽  
Near Term ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Evolutionary Paths ◽  
Universal Health

Policy decisions about healthcare coverage in Canada and the United States in the 1960s placed two virtually identical systems on different evolutionary paths in the physician and hospital sectors. However, prescription drug coverage remained outside Canada’s single-payer model, and employer-based coverage continued to be the norm for the workforce population, as is the case across the broad healthcare system in the United States. As a result the current debate about pharmacare in Canada mirrors in political microcosm the larger debate on universal health insurance among American Democrats. In each case the near-term prospects for a single-payer plan appear slim.

Lessons for Health Equity: Military Medicine as a Window to Universal Health Insurance

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeff Hutchinson ◽  
◽  
Raquel Mack ◽  
Tracey Perez Koehlmoos ◽  
Patrick H. DeLeon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Insurance ◽  
Health Equity ◽  
Military Medicine ◽  
Universal Health Insurance ◽  
Universal Health
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document