L'émergence du référentiel marchand dans la tarification des cliniques privées algériennes : privatisation du financement et changement de paradigme
Tariff convergence is part of the gradual privatization of the Algerian health care system that began in the late 1980s. The transition from a logic of free access to health care to a market logic represents an upheaval for patients. In order to understand the formation of tariffs in the private healthcare, we mixed a qualitative survey by semi-structured interviews with 16 founders of the clinics and the administration of a questionnaire to 40 permanent doctors of these clinics with a full-time activity. Our results show that the absence of an official tariff scheme in the Algerian private clinics has promoted the establishment of conventional tariff and remuneration systems, adopted by different actors especially to overcome the lack of regulation of the private healthcare. We observe a strong collective commitment to tariff devices, without sacrificing freedom of doctors as autonomous professionals on fixing their own tariff according to their own criteria. The emerging privatization of the Algerian health system is part of an overall international dynamic that would require a gradual change in the paradigm of public action.