Cost of tax-exempt health benefits in 1998. (1/583)

The tax expenditure for health benefits is the amount of revenues that the federal government forgoes by exempting the following from the federal income and Social Security taxes: (1) employer health benefits contribution, (2) health spending under flexible spending plans, and (3) the tax deduction for health expenses. The health tax expenditure was $111.2 billion in 1998. This figure varied from $2,357 per family among those with annual incomes of $100,000 or more to $71 per family among those with annual incomes of less than $15,000. Families with incomes of $100,000 or more (10 percent of the population) accounted for 23.6 percent of all tax expenditures.  (+info)

User charges for health care: a review of recent experience. (2/583)

This paper reviews recent experiences with increases in user charges and their effect on the utilization of health care. Evidence from several countries of differences in utilization between rich and poor is presented, and recent accounts of sharp, and often sustained, drops in utilization following fee increases, are presented and discussed. Fee income, appropriately used, represents a small but significant additional resource for health care. Recent national experiences appear to have concentrated on achieving cost recovery objectives, rather than on improving service quality and health outcomes. Appraisal of financing changes must be linked to probable health outcomes. Successful large-scale experience in linking these two is in short supply.  (+info)

Introducing health insurance in Vietnam. (3/583)

Like many other countries Vietnam is trying to reform its health care system through the introduction of social insurance. The small size of the formal sector means that the scope for compulsory payroll insurance is limited and provinces are beginning to experiment with ways of encouraging people to buy voluntary insurance. Methods of contracting between hospitals and insurance centres are being devised. These vary in complexity and there is a danger that those based on fee for service will encourage excessive treatment for those insured. It is important that the national and provincial government continue to maintain firm control over funding while also ensuring that a substantial and targeted general budget subsidy is provided for those unable to make contributions.  (+info)

Ability to pay for health care: concepts and evidence. (4/583)

In many developing countries people are expected to contribute to the cost of health care from their own pockets. As a result, people's ability to pay (ATP) for health care, or the affordability of health care, has become a critical policy issue in developing countries, and a particularly urgent issue where households face combined user fee burdens from various essential service sectors such as health, education and water. Research and policy debates have focused on willingness to pay (WTP) for essential services, and have tended to assume that WTP is synonymous with ATP. This paper questions this assumption, and suggests that WTP may not reflect ATP. Households may persist in paying for care, but to mobilize resources they may sacrifice other basic needs such as food and education, with serious consequences for the household or individuals within it. The opportunity costs of payment make the payment 'unaffordable' because other basic needs are sacrificed. An approach to ATP founded on basic needs and the opportunity costs of payment strategies (including non-utilization) is therefore proposed. From the few studies available, common household responses to payment difficulties are identified, ranging from borrowing to more serious 'distress sales' of productive assets (e.g. land), delays to treatment and, ultimately, abandonment of treatment. Although these strategies may have a devastating impact on livelihoods and health, few studies have investigated them in any detail. In-depth longitudinal household studies are proposed to develop understanding of ATP and to inform policy initiative which might contribute to more affordable health care.  (+info)

Willingness to pay for district hospital services in rural Tanzania. (5/583)

This paper describes a study undertaken to investigate the willingness of patients and households to pay for rural district hospital services in north-western Tanzania. The surveys undertaken included interviews with 500 outpatients and 293 inpatients at three district level hospitals, interviews with 1500 households and discussions with 22 focus groups within the catchment areas of the primary health care programmes of these hospitals. Information was collected on willingness to pay fees for certain hospital services, willingness to become a member of a local insurance system, and exemptions for cost-sharing. The willingness to pay for district hospital services was large. Furthermore, most respondents favoured a local insurance system above user fee systems, a finding which applied at all places and in all the surveys. More female respondents were in favour of a local insurance scheme. The conditions needed for the introduction of a local insurance system are discussed.  (+info)

Sustaining malaria prevention in Benin: local production of bednets. (6/583)

Through a Benin-Canada participatory research initiative which included both Benin and Canadian non-governmental organizations, a local capacity to produce and market bednets for the prevention of malaria was developed. The development process began following a community-based assessment of local needs and skills. All materials for the manufacture and distribution of the bednets were obtained locally with the exception of the netting which was imported from Canada. The sustainability of the enterprise is enhanced by the community's recognition of the importance of malaria and the culturally acceptable practice of bednet use.  (+info)

Primary health care in Turkey: a passing fashion? (7/583)

The Alma-Ata Declaration has long been regarded as a watershed in the health policy arena. The global goal of the World Health Organization, 'Health for All by the Year 2000' through primary health care, has attracted many countries both in the developed and the developing world and commitments to this end have been made at every level. However, albeit this consensus on the paper, a common and explicit definition of the concept has not been reached yet. This paper aims at discussing various definitions of primary health care that emerged after the Declaration and also presenting a case study from Turkey, a country that advocates primary health care in her recent health policy reform attempts. After setting the conceptual framework for discussion the Turkish case is presented by using research carried out among Turkish policy-makers at different levels of the State apparatus. It has been concluded that application of primary health care principles as defined in the broad definition of the concept requires major changes or rather shake-ups in Turkey. These areas are outlined briefly at the end of the paper.  (+info)

The lessons of user fee experience in Africa. (8/583)

This paper reviews the experience of implementing user fees in Africa. It describes the two main approaches to implementing user fees that have been applied in African countries, the standard and the Bamako Initiative models, and their common objectives. It summarizes the evidence concerning the impact of fees on equity, efficiency and system sustainability (as opposed to financial sustainability), and the key bottlenecks to their effective implementation. On the basis of this evidence it then draws out three main sets of lessons, focusing on: where and when to implement fees; how to enhance the impact of fees on their objectives; and how to strengthen the process of implementation. If introduced by themselves, fees are unlikely to achieve equity, efficiency or sustainability objectives. They should, therefore, be seen as only one element in a broader health care financing package that should include some form of risk-sharing. This financing package is important in limiting the potential equity dangers clearly associated with fees. There is a greater potential role for fees within hospitals rather than primary facilities. Achievement of equity, efficiency and, in particular, sustainability will also require the implementation of complementary interventions to develop the skills, systems and mechanisms of accountability critical to ensure effective implementation. Finally, the process of policy development and implementation is itself an important influence over effective implementation.  (+info)

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