Health Care

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Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health professionals and allied health fields. Medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, midwifery, nursing, optometry, audiology, psychology, occupational therapy, physical therapy, athletic training, and other health professions all constitute health care. The term includes work done in providing primary care, secondary care, tertiary care, and public health. Access to health care may vary across countries, communities, and individuals, influenced by social and economic conditions and health policies. Providing health care services means "the timely use of personal health services to achieve the best possible health outcomes". Factors to consider in terms of health care access include financial limitations (such as insurance coverage), geographical and logistical barriers (such as additional transportation costs and the ability to take paid time off work to use such services), sociocultural expectations, and personal limitations (lack of ability to communicate with health care providers, poor health literacy, low income). Limitations to health care services affect negatively the use of medical services, the efficacy of treatments, and overall outcome (well-being, mortality rates). Health systems are the organizations established to meet the health needs of targeted populations. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a well-functioning health care system requires a financing mechanism, a well-trained and adequately paid workforce, reliable information on which to base decisions and policies, and well-maintained health facilities to deliver quality medicines and technologies. An efficient health care system can contribute to a significant part of a country's economy, development, and industrialization. Health care is an important determinant in promoting the general physical and mental health and well-being of people around the world. An example of this was the worldwide eradication of smallpox in 1980, declared by the WHO, as the first disease in human history to be eliminated by deliberate health care interventions.

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Article title : Health care
"Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness..."
Article title : Universal health care by country
"Government-guaranteed health care for all citizens of a country, often called universal health care, is a broad concept that has been implemented in several..."
Article title : Universal health care
"Universal health care (also called universal health coverage, universal coverage, or universal care) is a health care system in which all residents of..."
Article title : Healthcare in the United States
"Health care compared – tabular comparisons of the US, Canada, and other countries not shown above. Health care industry Health care politics Health care..."
Article title : Affordable Care Act
"into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. Together with the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 amendment, it represents the..."
Article title : Transgender health care
"Transgender health care includes the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of physical and mental health conditions which affect transgender individuals..."
Article title : Primary health care
"Primary health care (PHC) is a whole-of-society approach to effectively organise and strengthen national health systems to bring services for health and wellbeing..."
Article title : UnitedHealth Group
"UnitedHealth Group Incorporated is an American multinational for-profit company specializing in health insurance and health care services based in Eden..."
Article title : Medicaid
"offers elder care benefits not normally covered by Medicare, including nursing home care and personal care services. There are also dual health plans for..."
Article title : Health care analytics
"Health care analytics is the health care analysis activities that can be undertaken as a result of data collected from four areas within healthcare: (1)..."

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