Medical expense coverage provides benefits to pay for the treatment of an insured's illnesses and injuries. In the United States and a number of other countries, most people are covered by some form of medical expense insurance. Medical expense insurance coverage in the United States is provided to individuals and groups primarily by a private system of commercial life and health insurance companies and other private health insurance providers. Government-sponsored medical expense insurance programs are designed to cover only specified people, such as the elderly or the poor. By contrast, in a number of other countries, including Canada and the United Kingdom, virtually every resident has medical expense insurance coverage provided by government-sponsored programs. In those countries, life and health insurance companies market products designed to supplement the coverage that governmental programs provide, but such private coverage represents only a small portion of the medical expense insurance coverage in force.