Free Health Care Does Not Equate To Better Health

“…Like insurance, removing user fees reduces the direct costs of health care. But reducing the direct costs of care generally hasn’t — on its own — improved health. Free care or insurance thus seems a necessary but not a sufficient condition for improving health outcomes. Here’s why…,” Amanda Glassman, director of global health policy and a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development (CGD), writes in the center’s “Global Health Policy” blog (2/10).

The KFF Daily Global Health Policy Report summarized news and information on global health policy from hundreds of sources, from May 2009 through December 2020. All summaries are archived and available via search.

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