Healthcare

Batur Mountain, Indonesia, for article on Indonesia universal health coverage

Indonesia achieves universal health coverage for 98% of its population

By / / Good News For Humankind

Universal health coverage reaching 280 million people is one of the most ambitious public health achievements of the past decade — and Indonesia just pulled it off. A decade ago, the country had more than 300 fragmented insurance schemes; today one unified program covers nearly the entire population, built on reforms to primary care, diagnostics, and provider payment. Yet enrollment and access aren’t the same thing — utilization remains uneven, with remote eastern provinces lagging far behind Java. For lower-income countries building their own paths to universal coverage, Indonesia’s decade of evidence is exactly the roadmap the world needs.

Hands holding each other, for article on Medi-Cal expansion

California set to become first state to provide free health care to all low-income immigrants

By / / Good News For Humankind

California is doing something no state has done before — guaranteeing free health care to every low-income adult, regardless of immigration status. An estimated 764,000 people stand to gain Medi-Cal coverage, funded entirely by California since the federal government doesn’t pay for undocumented residents. For families like Beatriz Hernandez’s — whose mother has never had health insurance in the U.S. — this is the change they’ve waited over a decade for. One health policy leader called it the biggest coverage expansion since the Affordable Care Act, and advocates are already watching to see which state steps up next.