Healthcare in Ultima Borealia
Healthcare in Ultima Borealia has been entirely provided for by the single-payer Borealian Health Service (Borealian: Heilbrigðisþjónusta Borealia, abbreviation HÞB) since 1925 (making it the oldest single-payer healthcare service in the world), which is the sole provider of all care (including dental care) and pharmaceuticals for free; all hospitals, medical supply stores clinics, pharmacies, and doctor's offices are entirely owned by the Government; the Government does, in fact, provide this single-payer healthcare service not only to Borealian citizens, but permanent residents and even tourists as well. Private health insurance and private healthcare is entirely outlawed, and the system is entirely funded by taxation. Ultima Borealia healthcare service is generally considered to be of an extremely high quality, with a life expectancy of 85 years (one of the highest in Esquarium) and an infant mortality rate of 0.8; additionally, wait times are very low (especially for urgent treatments, which are prioritised) and the number of doctors and nurses relative to the population is very high. Atlantica also manages to achieve this figure with healthcare only covering around 10% of GDP, which is quite low when considering the extremely high quality of Ultima Borealia's healthcare system and the HÞB.
The HÞB is administered by the Ministry of Health.. Polls have consistently shown that the vast majority of Borealian citizens support and are satisfied with the current healthcare system, although the HÞB has often come under fire for programs many deem excessive, most prominently a "Universal Petcare" scheme that extends the HÞB's generous services towards Borealian pets and has all veterinary hospitals be operated by the Government at no cost to patients; free medical coverage for tourists has also been criticised, although both schemes remain.
History
Prior to the 1920s, all of the Borealian healthcare system was entirely privately-owned and operated; the Government had no involvement in healthcare whatsoever besides regulating treatments in order to ensure non-dangerous care, and the wealthy and some of the middle class were able to afford health insurance; additionally the Borealian Federation of Labour was able to guarantee free healthcare to many skilled workers that were members of the BSA, but the number of workers even in the BSA guaranteed free healthcare were a minority, and most, especially in the working-class were unable to afford health insurance or were granted free healthcare by the BSA and thus were uninsured, and this situation prompted both the Socialists and Communists to endorse creating a single-payer nationalised health service.
The situation of a privatised healthcare system changed in 1925, however, as various left-wing parties were elected to the Government and elected Socialist Leader Gunnar Ólafursson, promised to, among other things, create a single-payer healthcare system; this was accomplished that same year, first by instituting a single-payer national health insurance to cover all Borealians, and then by putting all pharmacies, clinics, hospitals and doctor's offices under the ownership and control of the Government, creating the modern Borealian healthcare system that has largely remained intact since 1925.
The leftist consensus that governed Ultima Borealia well into the 1960s and has dominated Borealian politics that since the 1920s successively increased healthcare spending, whilst modernising Ultima Borealia's healthcare and building new clinics, hospitals, pharmacies and doctor's offices throughout Ultima Borealia, though primarily in rural areas in order to ensure coverage to all Borealians; the brief right-wing government of Kristján Hilmarsson from 1965-1968 also continued these policies and, as promised, did not initiate any major or notable reforms to Ultima Borealia's healthcare system, as many voters feared that a right-wing government would institute major reforms to or even privatise the HÞB. Governments, both left-wing and right-wing, have continued these policies and kept and transformed Ultima Borealia's healthcare system to be one of of extremely high quality; the HÞB is considered to be incredibly popular and uncontroversial throughout all sides of the political spectrum. Universal Petcare as introduced in 1999, in what is one of the only controversial aspects of the HÞB.
Union
The HÞB is a closed shop; all workers in the HÞB first join the United Social Services Workers (a union affiliated to the Borealian Fedearation of Labour representing all education and healthcare workers in Ultima Borealia and is the largest union in Ultima Borealia, representing 14% of Ultima Borealia workforce, with students in medical school, and unemployed medical workers generally retaining their membership in the USSUB in order to be able to get a job again and receive unemployment benefits in accordance with Ultima Borealia's ghent system. Most HÞB employees retain the right to strike, but all emergency medical employees are legally prohibited from striking.