The US could have saved more than 338,000 lives and more than $105bn in healthcare costs in the Covid-19 pandemic with a universal healthcare system, according to a study.

More than 1 million people died in the US from Covid, in part because the country’s “fragmented and inefficient healthcare system” meant uninsured or underinsured people faced financial barriers that delayed diagnosis and exacerbated transmission, the report states.

A bill that would have created a first-of-its-kind, universal health care system died in the California state legislature on Monday after progressive Democrats failed to secure the necessary support for the legislation. 

California lawmakers unveiled a new bill at the beginning of the year that would establish a single-payer health care system – an ambitious plan that would be funded by nearly doubling the state's already-high taxes.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed universal healthcare for all low-income residents of his state, including illegal immigrants, the governor announced during the unveiling of his 2022-23 state budget on Monday.

I know most of the arguments against "Medicare for All." I’ve been making them for most of my professional life as a physician:

1) We don’t need it; our current mix bag of public and private insurance coverage is adequate

2) Disrupting the private insurance industry would result in too many job losses

3) The government cannot be trusted to run a program of this size

4) We don’t have buy-in from a majority of constituents

5) We simply can’t afford it.

I’ve said all of these for 30 years. I now know that I am wrong.

27.5 million people in the United States (8.5% of the US population) do not have health insurance. Among the 91.5% who do have health insurance, 67.3% have private insurance while 34.4% have government-provided coverage through programs such as Medicaid or Medicare. Employer-based health insurance is the most common type of coverage, applying to 55.1% of the US population. The United States is the only nation among the 37 OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) nations that does not have universal health care either in practice or by constitutional right.

If there is a silver lining to the Covid-19 pandemic, it is that it has injected a sense of togetherness into polarised societies. But the virus, and the economic lockdowns needed to combat it, also shine a glaring light on existing inequalities — and even create new ones. Beyond defeating the disease, the great test all countries will soon face is whether current feelings of common purpose will shape society after the crisis.

A new report has found that Italy is doing completely fine with no problems whatsoever thanks to its lauded universal healthcare system.

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to sweep the world, countries are going on lockdown, but not Italy. Its universal healthcare program means that everybody is doing great, "incredible even."