Workers' Compensation: Betraying the Promise of Universal Health Coverage

Every year, on December 12, Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day reminds us of a critical truth: health is a human right, not a privilege. Yet in Australia, the intersectionality between workers' compensation, financial systems and universal health coverage reveal a deeply problematic maze that fails workers at their most vulnerable moments.

Universal health coverage (UHC) means that all people have access to the full range of quality health services they need, when and where they need them, without financial hardship.

What is UHC Day?

Universal Health Coverage Day on 12 December is the annual rallying point for the global movement for health for all. It marks the anniversary of the United Nations’ historic and unanimous endorsement of universal health coverage in 2012.

Since its establishment in 2016, UHC2030 is the movement leader supporting partners around the world in organizing events each UHC Day.

This year's international theme—**Health: It's on the government**—exposes the critical gaps in our current workers' compensation system in Australia. Workers facing workplace injuries are subjected to a labyrinth of bureaucratic delays, strategic obstructions, and financial barriers that directly contradict the core principles of universal health coverage.

The reality of workers' compensation in Australia is a stark testament to how health systems can become mechanisms of denial rather than care. Insurance providers routinely employ delaying tactics that prevent injured workers from accessing timely medical treatments. These strategies are not just administrative inconveniences—they are direct attacks on workers' fundamental right to healthcare.

When people cannot access the care they need without prolonged battles with insurance systems, communities suffer. Families are left in financial and medical limbo. Workers face not just physical challenges from their injuries, but the additional trauma of fighting for basic medical support. Small businesses and workers alike are trapped in a system that prioritizes financial calculations over human recovery.

Investing in genuine universal health coverage isn't just morally right; it's economically smart. Similarly, insurance companies must lift their game and address the shortfalls in their processes. People should not be being denied basic health treatment for workplace injuries just to delay a claim. There is a fundamental shift required in the business model which we acknowledge is no easy task. But community sentiment is driving this change needed. No longer are people prepared to be abused in their hour of need. A more compassionate system of care is required in this system known as Workers' Compensation. This goes to the core issue: Is Workers' Compensation a health system or a finance system. It needs to decide.

Research consistently shows that countries with strong healthcare systems that truly support workers experience greater economic stability and social cohesion. The current workers' compensation model in Australia does the opposite—creating additional stress, prolonging recovery and return to work, and increasing long-term economic burden.

Achieving Universal Health Coverage requires action from all of us. Governments must prioritize financial protection for health and eliminate the delaying tactics that currently plague workers' compensation. Civil society must hold leaders accountable for these systemic failures. As individuals, we can amplify the call for policies that guarantee access to essential health services and protect people from the bureaucratic barriers that prevent timely medical intervention. In short, we need a National scheme, not State by State politics playing with people's lives.

This UHC Day, we must demand a future where healthcare is accessible to all—without endless paperwork, without strategic delays, without turning medical recovery into a financial battlefield. Write to your decision-makers, attend and promote events, share stories that expose these systemic failures, and use the hashtag **#UHCDay** to spread the message.

Together, we can build a just and inclusive world, where health is not a privilege for a few, but a protected right for all—especially for workers who have been injured while contributing to our society.

The message is clear: A health system that delays is a health system that fails. Universal Health Coverage must mean universal, immediate, and compassionate care.