Healthcare Coverage for All: We’re Last in the OECD

Every member country of the OECD has a system of national health care, except the United States. The programs vary widely, some relying on market mechanism to provide medical services while others rely mostly on public provision of services and public insurance. Here are how the OECD countries break out.

Reliance on private insurance and market mechanisms:

• --Germany, Netherlands, Slovak Republic, and Switzerland rely on private insurance for basic health care coverage.

• --Australia, Belgium, Canada, and France use public insurance for basic health coverage and permit private insurance beyond basic coverage.

• --Austria, Czech Republic, Greece, Japan, Korea, and Luxembourg use public insurance for basic health coverage but permit little private insurance.

• Mostly public insurance and public provision of medical services:

• --Iceland, Sweden, and Turkey have no gate-keeping and ample choice of providers for users.

• --Denmark, Finland, Mexico, Portugal, and Spain have limited choice for providers and soft budget constraints.

• --Hungary, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, and the United Kingdom have ample choice of providers and strict budget constraints.

Source: Health Care Systems: Efficiency and Policy Settings, OECD (2010), 15, https://www.oecd.org/economy/growth/46508800.pdf