One system for all: Universal access to health care in practice

Other Worlds has partnered with the National Catholic Reporter to publish a 12 part series, titled "Women: Birthing justice, birthing hope."  The columns, collected and edited by Beverly Bell, feature empowered women who offer alternative visions as they birth a new and more just world order

By Julie Castro. My interest in health emerged as a way to take action in the fight for social justice. During my medical studies I did internships in Africa and India, and worked in a refugee camp located along the Thai-Burmese border. At the same time I became more aware of the anti-globalization movement, and it appeared to me that it was addressing the structural causes of ill health: inequality at both the global and local level. Today, while I’m working on the fight against AIDS in Mali, I’m also one of those defending the idea that access to public health in France is a right.

Even with its problems, the French health system is a good one. It’s a real distributive system. Universal access to health care is one basic value. A second benefit our system offers is equity in quality of care. In France, this means that the system should not make any distinction in terms of class, race or gender. It could be summarized as “one system for all.” Poor people don’t have to pay when they go see a doctor. Today, if you arrive in a bad state in a public hospital in France, you will be cured -- wherever you come from, whatever your language, documented or undocumented, all in the same way as a government minister would. Read More