Universal Public Health Care
Evidence-based strategies about universal public health care.
How to Navigate this Page
Select policy targets and evidence-based strategies that are priorities and achievable within your setting and sector. Align with your mandate, capacity, jurisdictional boundaries, and scope of practice.
Strategies marked with ☔ are important for populations-at-risk.
Entry Point for Action:
Reflects the organization’s or government unit’s sector scope and mandate
Policy Target:
Relates to the initiative’s focus
Evidence-based Strategies:
Concrete actions to guide initiatives’ design, delivery, and evaluation
SAMPLE INDICATORS
In countries with universal government-funded health systems:
- Eligible people’s (e.g., citizens) levels of satisfaction with the quality of health care services
- People’s perceived level of difficulty in accessing health care services (e.g., eligibility for services)
- Number/percentage of government units with regulatory and financial policy tools for essential services
- Number/percentage of people ineligible for the universal health care system (e.g., noncitizen residents) who report having access to high-quality health services at low cost
- Perceived ability to meet health-related costs among people ineligible for the universal health care system, stratified by socioeconomic status
- Trends of out-of-pocket expenditures on health among people ineligible for the universal health care system
- Number/percentage of people ineligible for the universal health care system reporting fear of the financial costs associated with health care use
- Inequalities between eligible and ineligible groups regarding health status, use of health care services, and health-related debts
In countries with (non)universal public and/or private insurance systems:
- Number/percentage of government units with effective regulatory controls ensuring actions from for-profit and not-for-profit organizations are aligned with the public interest and health goals, particularly regarding quality, costs, and access to health services
- Number of countries with regulation of private sector and good regulatory capacity ensuring strict management and financial protection in the health care sector
- Average of household expenditure on health care expenses, stratified by socioeconomic status
- Individual perceived financial hardship associated with use of private health care services
- Health inequalities between patients of the private health care sector and patients of the public health care sector
- Financial health inequalities between patients of the private health care sector and patients of the public health care sector
- Number/percentage of Emergency Department visits, stratified by socioeconomic status
- Number/percentage of preventable pediatric hospitalization per year, stratified by socioeconomic status
- Average cost of an admitted emergency visit
SAMPLE INDICATORS
- Ratio of targeted policies and programs to universal policies and programs
- Acceptance levels of taxation to support publicly funded policies and programs
- Number/percentage of taxpayers agreeing with taxes being used to support public provision of services (e.g., stratified by household income)