ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the focus is on modern forms of socialized health care common to Canada, the United Kingdom, and Sweden, followed by an examination of decentralized national health programs in Japan, Germany, and Mexico, and changes in the former socialist systems of Russia and China. Health care delivery systems worldwide are faced with the same problem of rising costs, aging populations, dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, and the requirement to meet their nation’s health needs. Britain had inaugurated a national health insurance program between 1911 and 1913, but it provided limited benefits and covered only manual laborers. Sweden, along with Britain, has demonstrated that a socialized system of health care delivery can be effective in a capitalist country through the formation of a national health service. The socialist model of health care delivery features central government ownership of all facilities, state employment of health workers, and free universal care paid out of the national budget.
