Healthcare in Cartadania

Healthcare in Cartadania and the Cartadanian health care system is, by law, one of universal health care largely financed by government national health insurance, although, healthcare is provided to all citizens and residents by a mixed public-private system. During a world health care systems assessment, multiple organizations found that Cartadania provided one of the best overall health care systems in the world, where the system was ranked second worldwide by the World Health Organization in 2027. In 2024, Cartadania spent 7.2% of its GDP on health care, or $5,210 per capita, a figure much higher than the average spent by countries in cultural proximity to it. Approximately 75% of health expenditures are covered by government funded agencies, and care for people affected by chronic diseases such as cancer, AIDS or cystic fibrosis is always free.

Most general physicians are in private practice but draw their income from the public insurance funds. These funds have never gained self-management responsibility. Instead, the government has taken responsibility for the financial and operational management of health insurance (by setting premium levels related to income and determining the prices of goods and services refunded). There are public hospitals, non-profit independent hospitals (which are linked to the public system), as well as private for-profit hospitals.

Average life expectancy at birth is 81.87 years for men and 86.51 years for women, one of the highest of the World. The fertility rate in 2024 stood at 1.71 children born/per woman and has been below the replacement rate of 2.1 since 1973. With a low birth rate, women also become mothers at a later age, the mean age at first live birth being 28.2 in 2024. A study published in a Merced medical journal found that Cartadania also had the lowest stillbirth rate out of the occidental countries.

Hospital system
There is roughly an even split between public hospitals, non-profit independent hospitals (which are linked to the public system), while private for-profit hospitals tend to be fewer. In the nation's western Urban agglomeration, the dominant non-profit hospital group is the Ivy Health System, which is the parent organization to the country's top two hospitals–Ivy West Sierra Memorial Hospital and Ivy Alahuela Medical Center.

Some states also have very high performing hospital systems, such as Lombardia. In terms of public hospitals, Lombardia has the best hospital system in Cartadania. Lombardia itself contributes an additional amount of funding to the health fund in the state. Lombardia extends base coverages for healthcare for all residents, with even more extensions for pediatric healthcare, making it one of the best states to live in regarding coverages. And in accordance with the Lombard Health Millennium Initiative (LOHMI), no person in the commonwealth lives more than 45 minutes from a health facility that can treat the most common ailments. Higher profile cases may be further away as the state's level 1 trauma centers tend to be concentrated around population centers. Each state has its own requirements for health facilities, but trends to be similar in more populous states, while small states typically have hospitals clustered around their capital and/or largest city.

Emergency medicine
Emergency medical services in Cartadania are provided by a mix of organizations under public health control. The central organizations that provide these services are known as a SAMU, which stands for Serviço de Assistência Médica Urgente (Urgent Medical Aid Service). Local SAMU organisations operate the control rooms that answer emergency calls and dispatch medical responders. They also operate the SMUR (Serviço Móvel de Emergência e Reanimação – Mobile Emergency and Resuscitation Service), which refers to the ambulances and response vehicles that provide advanced medical care. Other ambulances and response vehicles are provided by the fire services and private ambulance services.

The primary emergency telephone number for emergency medical service in is 911, part of the N11 number set, and emergency medical service is always free of charge. First aid is provided by all the public hospitals: for urgent cases it is completely free of charge for everyone (even for an undocumented non-citizen), while a copay (about $35) is sometimes asked for non-urgent cases.