ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the current state of service delivery in the healthcare sector, and argues that a social protection model can help to mitigate the drivers of human insecurity in America. A social protection approach to service delivery in the health sector will help improve human security because it will help to target policy mechanisms to address both shocks and stresses associated with ill health. The importance of a social protection approach to ensure human security cannot be underestimated, particularly given the financial burden that emergency medical treatment places on millions of Americans. In the United States (US), poor health can trigger a downward cycle towards chronic poverty because access to healthcare is dependent on medical insurance—the majority of which is provided by employers. The system of healthcare in the US is based for the most part on a partnership between public and private health insurance companies. A lack of health insurance also has knock-on impacts on emergency services.
