Health affairs
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Fundamental health reform is integral to putting the country on the path to economic recovery. These goals-health reform and economic recovery-will not be met unless we build, empower, and deploy a twenty-first-century health care workforce. ⋯ Nurses are at the center of this discussion. It is nurses-of every stripe-who will deliver, coordinate, and direct care in hospitals, clinics, and physicians' offices, and it is these same most necessary nurses who are in short supply.
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By insuring more than 80 percent of its population, Colombia provides a valuable opportunity to gather evidence on a hotly debated health policy issue. Results from three studies evaluating the impact of universal health insurance in Colombia show that it has greatly increased access to and use of health services, even those that are free for all, and has reduced the incidence of catastrophic health spending. The impact has been more dramatic among those most vulnerable to health shocks: those living in rural areas, the poorest, and the self-employed.