Did the US make a promise to the UN to adopt universal health care?

Did the US make a promise to the UN to adopt universal health care?

Every single member of the UN doubled-down today on a commitment to provide universal health coverage to their citizens. The fact that the US will be among them is perhaps evidence of how disconnected these declarations can be from actual domestic political agendas. 

Yet the issue is important, and it shows just how out of line the US approach to health care coverage is compared to the rest of the world. 

Only about half the world’s population has access to the kind of affordable health care services that don’t require crippling out-of-pocket costs. Most of those people are in mid- and low-income countries. Or they are in the wealthiest country on Earth: the US. Bringing universal health care to everyone is one of the “sustainable development goals,” the ambitious to-do list for UN member countries to complete by 2030. 

For the UN, universal health care means, “financial risk protection, access to quality essential health-care services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all.” 

The declaration, drafted through the leadership of Thailand and Georgia, breaks that down further, laying out a detailed 83-step process to provide accessible health coverage to the half of the world that doesn’t have it.