Interesting question. Someone on allnurses.com started a thread about this, wanting to know if universal healthcare would negatively affect the income of RNs. There are a lot of responses, but one thing is apparent–no one has really defined what universal healthcare is. And there is no one definition. It basically means that all people will have access to healthcare, and that one never needs to worry about going bankrupt or losing their home in order to pay for medical care.  But beyond that, universal care comes in many different forms. It varies from systems like in the UK, where it is government sponsored and nurses/physicians are employed primarily by the government, to situations like Switzerland, where everyone is covered by insurance.  In both cases, no one falls through the cracks–and if they do, there is a net to catch them.

So will salaries go down if we managed to install some sort of universal healthcare in this country? Probably not, would be my guess.  We already have wide fluctuations in salaries, depending on where you live, and it would be very hard to keep nurses working in NY, for example, if salaries were cut. It would also be very difficult to standardize healthcare and salaries across the nation, as exists in some countries, due to the enormous differences in cost of living, populations, and the huge differences in lifestyle. Compare living in a tiny town in South Dakota to Los Angeles, for example. The healthcare needs of the populations are different, as are the type of healthcare facilities needed.