Insurance-based systems only cover the entitled people as defined by the law, and among them, those who have paid their contributions. This principle has a fundamental limitation towards UHC, as illustrated in the case of UCAs in the Korean NHI system. To achieve UHC, we need a genuinely universal system based on the granted health rights, rather than on entitlements through insurance. An insurance-based, contributory system cannot realise UHC. It would be a tax-based, non-contributory system, with robust public provisioning of healthcare which is free at the point of use, that will ensure universal health care, without any exclusion of the vulnerable population. Sun Kim from PHM writes about the limitations in the UHC model implemented in South Korea. To read the complete article click here