The Problem That Won't Go Away: Reforming U.S. Health Care Financing. Edited by Henry J. Aaron. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1996. 298p. $36.95 cloth, $16.95 paper. - License to Steal: Why Fraud Plagues America's Health Care System. By Malcolm K. Sparrow. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1996. 240p. $55.00 cloth, $16.95 paper. - Governing Health: The Politics of Health Policy. Carol S. Weissert and William G. Weissert. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996. 361p. $45.00 cloth, $24.95 paper.

1997 ◽  
Vol 91 (3) ◽  
pp. 734-736
Author(s):  
Richard Himelfarb
1998 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Klavus ◽  
Unto Häkkinen

Objectives: In the early 1990s the Finnish economy suffered a severe recession at the same time as health care reforms were taking place. This study examines the effects of these changes on the distribution of contributions to health care financing in relation to household income. Explanations for changes in various indicators of health care expenditure and use during that time are offered. Method: The analysis is based partly on actual income data and partly on simulated data from the base year (1990). It employs methods that allow the estimation of confidence intervals for inequality indices (the Gini coefficient and Kakwani's progressivity index). Results: In spite of the substantial decrease in real incomes during the recession, the distribution of income remained almost unaltered. The share of total health care funding derived from poorer households increased somewhat, due purely to structural changes. The financial plight of the public sector led to the share of total funding from progressive income taxes to decrease, while regressive indirect taxes and direct payments by households contributed more. Conclusions: It seems that, aside from an increased financing burden on poorer households, Finland's health care system has withstood the tremendous changes of the early 1990s fairly well. This is largely attributable to the features of the tax-financed health care system, which apportions the effects of financial and functional disturbances equitably.


2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoe Rose O'Neill

Dr. Danielle Martin is an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto and Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Executive at Women’s College Hospital in Toronto, where she is also a practicing family physician. Her career epitomizes an idea that is often discussed in medical training, but rarely manifests in practice: physicians are both advocates for individual patients and stewards of public health equity at a systems level. Dr. Martin has dedicated her career to improving and strengthening Canada’s universal health care system. She is a public leader in the ongoing debate about health care privatization and founded the organization Canadian Doctors for Medicare. Notably, Dr. Martin spoke about Canadian health care and advocated for single-payer health care in a widely publicized US Senate hearing led by Senator Bernie Sanders. She has also published a book titled, Better Now: Six Big Ideas to Improve Health Care for All Canadians, which breaks down complex health policy into six actionable steps in order to improve the health care system for all Canadians. She continuously advocates for public involvement in health policy through research and public outreach and is a role model for young physicians aspiring to leadership roles in health and health care policy, while simultaneously pursuing a career in clinical practice. In fact, doing both provides a unique framework for improving the individual wellbeing and health of Canadians. Dr. Martin believes that advocacy is a skill that requires practice and training; she advises young trainees that the time to start is now.  


2009 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 271-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bo Burström

In international comparisons, the Swedish health care system has been seen to perform well. In recent years, market-oriented, demand-driven health care reforms aimed at free choice of provider by patients and free establishment of doctors are increasingly promoted in Sweden. The stated objective is to improve access and efficiency in health services and to provide more and/or better services for the money. Swedish health policy aims to provide equal access to care, based on equal need. However, the social and economic gradient in disease and ill health does not translate into the same social and economic gradient in demand for health services. A market-oriented, demand-driven health care system runs the risk of defeating the health policy aims and of further increasing gaps between social groups in access and utilization of health care services, to the detriment of those with greater needs, unless it is coupled with need-based allocation of resources and empowerment of these groups.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 114-123
Author(s):  
Oleksandr Prasov ◽  
Yuliia Abakumova

The purpose of the paper is a study of economic and legislative problems in financing the provision of health care to the imprisoned persons, exercising their right to health care and providing proposals to fill existing gaps in the legislation. Methodology. The survey is based on an analysis of the development of the regulatory framework for health care and the principles of financing health care in some European and post-Soviet countries. A general description of the principles of financing the health care system in the European countries is given. The principles of expenditures on health care financing in relation to public and private expenditures and basic models of health care financing are analyzed. The current state of the health care system and the problems and features of providing health care to imprisoned persons in the post-Soviet territory, in particular in Ukraine, Armenia, the Russian Federation, in the Republics of Kazakhstan, Belarus, Uzbekistan, is studied. The problems of provision, realization and ensuring the right to health care to persons who are in the institution of execution of penalties are considered. An analysis of the regulatory framework governing the issue of the right to health care and the procedure for its implementation. Ways to solve problems related to the exercise of the right to health care for prisoners are proposed. Proposals for improving the regulatory framework in the health care sector on the harmonization of legislative acts (regulations governing the general principles of health care and the provision of health care for the imprisoned persons) are presented. Results. In the process of studying the state policy on financing the provision of health care to the citizens in the European and post-Soviet countries and based on the analysis of the modern legal framework, the need to reform the health care system is justified since only public financing of health care, or a larger percentage (over 80%) of such financing cannot provide all the necessary needs of the health care system. The need to harmonize the legislation of the post-Soviet countries is emphasized in accordance with the international standards. It is concluded that in most post-Soviet countries, the imprisoned persons have the opportunity to implement the legislation on financing and guarantees of health care, but taking into account their legal status and the regime of serving the sentence. Practical implications. Proposals to take into account the health care experience of countries, the achievements of which in the health care sector are recognized by the world community, and which, in addition to public financing of health care, actively turn to other sources, such as social insurance, targeted contributions of the enterprises, etc., are made. Value/originality. The article provides proposals for amendments to the legislation in the health care sector in some post-Soviet countries on the harmonization of legislation governing the general principles of health care and regulations governing the provision of health care to imprisoned persons.


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