Basically universal healthcare means that it is paid for by the government rather than private insurance companies. Medicare is a form of universal healthcare for the elderly. Blue Cross, United Healthcare, and Humana are all forms of commercial / private insurance.

To be clear, the citizens fund the government, so the citizens pay the bill for universal healthcare. However, being government funded means that the “insurer” is not profit driven. They are not fighting to deny claims or to exclude high cost members, etc.

Government funded care is cheaper than commercial insurance because it is a single large entity rather than many small entities.

Universal healthcare is probably 90% a benefit and 10% a detriment. The argument against it is that money drives innovation and superior care. there is an ounce of truth to that and a pound of lies.

Universal care will likely never happen because there is an absurd amount of money in the health care industry so there are billions of dollars in lobbying / related spending / corruption to keep insurance private.