September 23, 2026 Oregon's Universal Health Plan Governance Board was to issue its report to the state legislature on implementing universal health coverage for all state residents by September 15, 2026. That deadline has been pushed back until December 1. Oregon Capital Chronicle reported (Jake Thomas, "Oregon universal health care board punts single-payer report over funding uncertainty," Oregon Capital Chronicle, August 6, 2026): "The Universal Health Plan Governance Board voted unanimously Thursday morning to extend its deadline to Dec. 1 for its report that will describe the state’s transition to a single-payer system where a public corporation would offer what’s…
Yale Study: Universal Health Coverage Could Save Lives and One Trillion Dollars Annually
A not-yet-peer reviewed Yale University study has found that adoption of universal health coverage in the United States could save $1.04 trillion and 114,000 lives every year.According to a news release from the Yale University School of Public Health (Matt Kristoffersen, Universal Health Coverage Could Save $1 Trillion and 114,000 Lives Every Year, Yale Study Projects, August 13, 2026):"The model identified five major sources of savings: lower pharmaceutical prices, Medicare-level payments to providers, reduced administrative overhead, less fraudulent billing, and fewer avoidable emergency department visits and hospitalizations. Even under more conservative assumptions about drug prices and fraud reduction, the researchers…
Tracking Universal Health Coverage
The World Health Organization and the World Bank have released a new report entitled Tracking universal health coverage: 2025 global monitoring report.According to the news release (Most countries make progress towards universal health coverage, but major challenges remain, WHO–World Bank report finds, World Health Organization, December 6 2025):"The UHC Global Monitoring Report 2025 shows that health service coverage, measured by the Service Coverage Index (SCI), rose from 54 to 71 points between 2000 and 2023. Meanwhile, the share of people experiencing financial hardship due to large and impoverishing out-of-pocket (OOP) health payments declined from 34% to 26% between 2000 and…