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This article examines the political economy of healthcare financing and provision from a Marxist perspective. The article argues that the nature of a country's health financing system results in part as a result of the balance of class forces within a society. The commodification of healthcare is seen as not only creating barriers to access that are deleterious to society's most vulnerable members, but also distorting the dynamics of healthcare provision itself. The article closes with a typology of healthcare financing and provision and a brief analysis of essential elements of a rights-based approach to healthcare financing and delivery.