Black moms die in childbirth 3 times as often as white moms. Except in North Carolina.

The United Kingdom's single-payer health insurance system, known as the National Health Service, has helped citizens obtain the essential care they need without having to worry about the cost of the care. While the model has shown proven success in reducing overall health costs and increasing positive health outcomes, some citizens say that care can be delayed due to demand, which leads them to pursue supplemental insurance.

Many U.S. medical systems are using medical-legal partnerships to help disadvantaged patients who need help navigating problems with landlords and insurers that interfere with their health.

Worker-owned home-care cooperatives are emerging as an alternative to the for-profit agencies that dominate America's direct-care sector. In these cooperatives, professional caregivers earn an average of $2 more per hour than the industry standard, share in business decision-making, and stay on the job at nearly double the rate of workers at traditional agencies. Patients also stay with co-op agencies twice as long, suggesting higher satisfaction and quality of care.

Switzerland is home to the world's lowest avoidable mortality rate and residents of the country live longer lives and are healthier than those who live in the United States. Health policy experts credit the Swiss health care system for playing a significant role. Despite the high cost and the penalty for not carrying insurance, the system is praised as guarateeing access to quality health-care and "unlike the U.S., people rarely go bankrupt from medical bills."

In order to tackle opioid addiction, the state of Virginia found a way to make drug treatment accessible to people with medicaid by boosting “reimbursement rates to addiction treatment providers.” Historically, drug treatment hasn’t been covered by health insurance. Virginia is changing that. Already, “the percent of Medicaid members with an opioid use disorder who received treatment went up by 29 percent from April to December 2017 compared to the same period the previous year.”

With the creation of oral rehydration solution, diarrhea can be treated by inexpensive, homemade remedies. O.R.S. has undeniably helped Bangladesh make big strides in improving child health in recent decades thanks to thoughtful, systemic implementation, and it is now distributed by UNICEF in more than 60 countries.

Three hospitals throughout Mississippi rank at the top for having the lowest number of C-sections in first-time, full-term pregnancies. The hospitals achieved this by making midwife care a regular part of the birthing experience, despite not having a midwifery certification program in the state.

RestoringVision addresses the global shortage of reading glasses by tackling supply and demand challenges. On the demand side, they partner with local NGOs and governments to provide vision screenings and free initial glasses, particularly for those in regions who either don’t know reading glasses are an option or don’t realize they’re losing their vision. On the supply side, they work to build retail networks and educate employers about productivity benefits, as workers receiving glasses show productivity increases up to 32%.

The Safer Hands Health Initiative (SHI) aims to reduce maternal mortality across the country by educating and empowering birth attendants, healthcare centers and pregnant women to use safe delivery practices. SHI partners with medical boards and area hospitals to provide free training for birth attendants and also provides sterile birthing kits to expectant mothers. So far, SHI has trained over 200 birth attendants and has distributed more than 10,000 birthing kits.

Dental offices like Asian Health Services are starting to incorporate mental health care in their dental services. By observing changes in oral health, building trust with patients to talk about their mental health and having them fill out questionnaires about how they’ve been feeling, dentists are able to identify patients that may be struggling and then help connect them with therapy and treatment. Asian Health Services screens 300 to 400 patients per year, about 7% of which are then referred to counseling.