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Bulletin of the World Health Organization
Feb 01, 2020;98 (2): 95-99.

Other considerations than: how much will universal health coverage cost?

Sarah L Barber, Sheila O'Dougherty, Lluis Vinyals Torres, Tsolmongerel Tsilaajav, Paul Ong
Author Information
  1. Sarah L Barber: World Health Organization Centre for Health Development, IHD Center Building 9F, 1-5-1 Wakinohama-Kaigandori, Chuo-Ku, Kobe, 651-0073, Japan.
  2. Sheila O'Dougherty: Abt Associates, Washington DC, United States of America.
  3. Lluis Vinyals Torres: World Health Organization South-East Asia Regional Office, New Delhi, India.
  4. Tsolmongerel Tsilaajav: World Health Organization South-East Asia Regional Office, New Delhi, India.
  5. Paul Ong: World Health Organization Centre for Health Development, IHD Center Building 9F, 1-5-1 Wakinohama-Kaigandori, Chuo-Ku, Kobe, 651-0073, Japan.
PMID: 32015579 DOI: 10.2471/BLT.19.238915

Abstract

Globally, countries have agreed to pursue the progressive realization of universal health coverage (UHC) and there is now a high level of political commitment to providing universal coverage of essential health services while ensuring that individuals are financially protected against high health spending. The aim of this paper is to help policy-makers think through the progressive realization of UHC. First, the pitfalls of applying global normative expenditure targets in estimating the national revenue required for UHC are discussed. Then, several recommendations on estimating national revenue are made by moving beyond the question of how much UHC will cost and focusing instead on the national health-care reforms and policy choices needed to progress towards UHC. In particular, costing exercises are recommended as a tool for comparing different service delivery options and investment in data infrastructure is recommended for improving the information needed to identify the best policies. These recommendations are intended to assist health policy-makers and international and national agencies who are developing country plans for the progressive realization of UHC.

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Grants

  1. 001/World Health Organization

MeSH Term

Costs and Cost Analysis
Developing Countries
Health Care Reform
Universal Health Insurance
Journal Article
Article has an altmetric score of 13

Word Cloud

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