Why countries should switch to universal healthcare

Annotated Bibliography Your Name Subject and Section Professor’s Name Date CDC. (2023, September 1). Health Care Access. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/health_equity/health-care-access.htm#availability According to the CDC (2023), everyone needs to have better health care in order to eliminate cardiovascular disease risk factors, but unfortunately, health disparities are still very present in the US, focusing more on racial and ethnic minorities as well as low-income groups. Although under the Affordable Care Act, the percentage of uninsured Americans has decreased, millions of people, 13% of Black and 29% of Hispanic adults with cardiovascular disease or related risks, still are uninsured. Closing these gaps, primarily through Universal Healthcare (UHC), could help in the early diagnosis and prevention of cardiovascular diseases and help in addressing population health disparities. Gunja, M., Gumas, E., Masitha, R., & Zephyrin, L. (2024, June 4). Insights into the US Maternal Mortality Crisis: An International Comparison. https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2024/jun/insights-us-maternal-mortality-crisis-international-comparison Postpartum care, including adequate access to healthcare, is still lacking in the US, especially for Black women, as demonstrated by the highest maternal mortality rate in this country. The countries with UHC services, which are rampant in Europe and Asia, understand the importance of providing midwives and paid parental leave; hence, the low maternal mortality rate. This necessitates the importance of adopting UHC primarily to address maternal health, where women of color are highly affected by poor healthcare access and quality (Gunja et al., 2024). Kodali, P. B. (2023). Achieving Universal Health Coverage in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Challenges for Policy Post-Pandemic and Beyond. Risk Management and Healthcare Policy, 16, 607–621. https://doi.org/10.2147/RMHP.S366759 Kodali (2023) employed a narrative syntheses approach to identify the most significant barriers toward UHC in low-to-middle-income countries. The study identifies five key ch...