Thirty-two of the thirty-three developed nations have universal health care, with the United States being the lone exception [1]. The following list, compiled from WHO sources where possible, shows the start date and type of system used to implement universal health care in each developed country [2]. Note that universal health care does not imply government-only health care, as many countries implementing a universal health care plan continue to have both public and private insurance and medical providers.
Country – Start Date of Universal Health Care – System Type
Norway - 1912 – Single Payer
New Zealand – 1938 – Two Tier
Japan – 1938 – Single Payer
Germany – 1941 – Insurance Mandate
Belgium – 1945 – Insurance Mandate
United Kingdom – 1948 – Single Payer
Kuwait – 1950 – Single Payer
Sweden – 1955 – Single Payer
Bahrain – 1957 – Single Payer
Brunei – 1958 – Single Payer
Canada – 1966 – Single Payer
Netherlands – 1966 – Two-Tier
Austria – 1967 – Insurance Mandate
United Arab Emirates – 1971 – Single Payer
Finland – 1972 – Single Payer
Slovenia – 1972 – Single Payer
Denmark – 1973 – Two-Tier
Luxembourg – 1973 – Insurance Mandate
France – 1974 – Two-Tier
Australia – 1975 – Two Tier
Ireland – 1977 – Two-Tier
Italy – 1978 – Single Payer
Portugal – 1979 – Single Payer
Cyprus – 1980 – Single Payer
Greece – 1983 – Insurance Mandate
Spain – 1986 – Single Payer
South Korea – 1988 – Insurance Mandate
Iceland – 1990 – Single Payer
Hong Kong – 1993 – Two-Tier
Singapore – 1993 – Two-Tier
Switzerland – 1994 – Insurance Mandate
Israel – 1995 – Two-Tier
United States – 2014 – Insurance Mandate
