Universal Healthcare ideally means that everyone who lives in a particular place has guaranteed access to healthcare regardless of their ability to pay for it. The government might provide it directly (The UK, Canada) it might be provided by private providers paid for through tax money and/or mandatory health savings(Singapore), it might be mandatory health insurance with government paying for lower income coverage (Germany, Switzerland and the intent of the US ACA). In these programs the government or related entities usually set prices for care and meds to keep it affordable so that money is not a barrier to access.

A non Universal Healthcare system means that access to healthcare is not guaranteed. For example, in the current US system, only very low income people or people 65 and over have guaranteed access to healthcare through Medicaid and Medicare, which are funded by the government by money taken in the form of taxes. Everyone else either needs to get health insurance through an employer, get insurance on their own (the Feds do offer financial help if you use their marketplace) or pay cash whenever they need to use healthcare services. We can argue that everyone has “access” to healthcare in the US, but in reality, access is dependent on ability to pay -even if one has a health insurance plan. High premiums, deductibles, copays, co-insurance and the lack of price limits on services and medicine means that many people simply can’t use healthcare services because they don’t have the money to pay.