Health Care Around the WorldWhen someone gets sick or injured, they expect to receive medical care, whether in a public or private practice. We tend to think that almost everyone has some type of health insurance to cover the expensive costs of medical care, but in reality there are many who cannot afford it. The universal challenge has been how to achieve medical coverage for everyone around the world, but is this ideal too radical? Each country has its own pros and cons with health plans. The United States, among others, has recently reformed ours. There are many types of medical coverage around the world that are still faced with never-ending rising costs, as well as a lack of accessibility to public and/or private healthcare. Here we will look at other countries to see how the medical coverage models they have adopted have helped improve their healthcare and how these same models could potentially improve ours. Knowledge of the “four fundamental models of healthcare systems” will help us have a better understanding of how our healthcare system began and how it has evolved to where it is today. Each system has the same basic goals; preventive care for the healthy, caring for the sick, injured or dying and providing this service without causing economic strain on the population (Reid). The "Beveridge model", named after William Beveridge, who created Britain's national health services, provides services to the public. It is financed by the public through taxes collected by the government (Reid). Services are provided to the public by state-owned health facilities or by a private doctor; all of whom receive payment from the government for their services. Since the healthcare system is owned by the government… the paper medium… the community can provide for the needs of the population without causing financial ruin. We will need to make adjustments as healthcare demands increase and change. Works CitedReid, TR PNHP.org "Health Care Systems: Four Basic Models." http://www.pnhp.org/single_payer_resources/health_care_systems_four_basic_models.php >01 April 2014Edmonds, Molly. “10 Health Systems Around the World” September 9, 2009. HowStuffWorks.com. 01 April 2014. Wikipedia. "Health Insurance in the United States." Webhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_insurance_in_the_United_States > 01 April 2014. Wikipedia. "World Health Organization." Webhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Health_Organization >08 April 2014Home page of the World Health Organization websitehttp://www.who.int/en/ >01 April 2014