National health insurance
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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National health insurance (NHI) – sometimes called statutory health insurance (SHI) – is a system of health insurance that insures a national population against the costs of health care. It may be administered by the public sector, the private sector, or a combination of both. Funding mechanisms vary with the particular program and country. National or Statutory health insurance does not equate to government-run or government-financed health care, but is usually established by national legislation. In some countries, such as Australia's Medicare system, the UK's National Health Service, and the South Korea’s National Health Insurance Corporation contributions to the system are made via general taxation and therefore are not optional even though use of the health system it finances is. In practice, most people paying for NHI will join it. Where the NHI involves a choice of multiple insurance funds, the rates of contributions may vary and the person has to choose which insurance fund to belong to.
See also
- Health care compared - tabular comparisons of the US, Canada, and other countries not shown above.
- Health care politics
- Publicly funded health care
- Single-payer health care
- Universal health care