Open AccessUniversal Health Care: Lessons From the British Experience
Author(s) -
Donald W. Light
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
american journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.284
H-Index - 264
eISSN - 1541-0048
pISSN - 0090-0036
DOI - 10.2105/ajph.93.1.25
Subject(s) - opposition (politics) , restructuring , public administration , government (linguistics) , health care , national health insurance , political science , health insurance , health policy , health services , economic growth , health care reform , public health , public relations , politics , medicine , law , nursing , environmental health , economics , population , philosophy , linguistics
Britain's National Health Service (NHS) was established in the wake of World War II amid a broad consensus that health care should be made available to all. Yet the British only barely succeeded in overcoming professional opposition to form the NHS out of the prewar mixture of limited national insurance, various voluntary insurance schemes, charity care, and public health services. Success stemmed from extraordinary leadership, a parliamentary system of government that gives the winning party great control, and a willingness to make major concessions to key stakeholders. As one of the basic models emulated worldwide, the NHS-in both its original form and its current restructuring-offers a number of relevant lessons for health reform in the United States.