Health system financing is a critical factor in securing universal health care and achieving equity in access and payment. The human rights framework offers valuable guidance for designing a financing strategy that meets these goals. This article presents a rights-based approach to health care...

With the passage of Act 48 in May 2011, Vermont has become the first U.S. state to enact a law for a universal, publicly financed health care system. The state is on course for implementing a single payer system by 2017. This first breakthrough in the decades-long struggle for universal health...

This paper compares health care systems. It looks beyond normal academic, political, or journalistic rhetoric, by exactly sticking to facts, i.e. empirical data (in particular data provided by the WHO) and comprehensive case study analyses. The paper finds that a number of myths and common...

In the US healthcare system, patients of different socio-economic status (SES) often receive disparate treatment for similar conditions. Prior work documents this phenomenon for particular treatments/conditions, but we take a system-wide view and examine socioeconomic disparities in spending for...

Adolescent mental health is a worsening crisis in the United States. Adding to the problem is the ability of parents and caregivers to find timely and affordable mental healthcare services for this population, one that is vulnerable to suicide, substance abuse and other devastating outcomes due...

The United States is experiencing the economic turmoil. Both unemployment and forclosure numbers are on the rise. The U.S. government, through its spending beyond its means has accumulated a $14 trillion debt. The current tax infrastructure clearly is not providing sufficient funding for U.S....

Canada has been regarded as a model global citizen with firm commitments to multilateralism. It has also played important roles in several international health treaties and conventions in recent years. There are now concerns that its interests in health as a foreign policy goal may be...