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The debate about health care reform has gone on for many years. The debate has generated often innovative ideas for reform that transcend national boundaries. For example, proposals have been made for an extension of health insurance with a framework of social protection; progressive development of funding methods; controls on expenditure; bringing benefits into line with what is actually needed; and the application of technological advances.
The book concentrates on health insurance policy innovations in selected countries in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. In addition this book addresses recent institutional economic findings with regard to application of information technology in health insurance systems. Topics discussed include: new approaches in extending coverage in a health insurance system, confronting resource scarcity: innovative strategies, refining benefits to meet current needs, new institutional and administrative frameworks, and transformation through information technology systems. Many of the innovations presented here have already been integrated into existing reforms and the authors refer to concrete developments in individual countries and regions.
This book presents those important innovations to social health insurance systems in industrialized and developing countries that have been brought forward in recent years and, as far as possible, already evaluated. In doing so, the intention is to show developments that are valid for more than one country and could have long term impact on health insurance systems. This book is intended to promote deeper exchanges of experience between differing regions, countries, and health insurance systems. In this way it will stimulate ideas for politicians and practitioners, scientists and other experts.
List of contents
1: Introduction; 1: Worldwide Innovations in Health Insurance Reform; 2: New Approaches in Extending Health Care Coverage; 2: New Strategies for the Formal Sector: Focus on Vietnam and Zimbabwe; 3: Health Protection for Informal Sector Workers: New Approaches to a Long-Standing Problem; 3: Confronting Resource Scarcity: Innovative Strategies; 4: Managed Care in the United States: Its History, Forms, and Future; 5: China: Innovations in Health Care Financing—Mixing Individual and Collective Responsibility; 4: Refining Benefits to Meet Current Needs; 6: Moving to Integrate Prevention, Curative Prevention, and Curation; 7: New Benefits Dealing with Ageing Populations: Long-Term Care; 8: Establishment of Long-Term Care Insurance Scheme in Japan; 5: New Institutional and Administrative Frameworks; 9: Should Health Care be Part of the Social Security System or a Separate Scheme?; 10: Private Participation in Supporting the Social Contact in Health: New Insights from Institutional Economics; 11: Mutual Benefit Societies: Solutions in Europe, North Africa, and Latin America; 6: Transformation through Information Technology Systems; 12: Possibilities Offered by New Information Technology; 13: Building Up Telecommunications in the German Health Insurance Systems: Aims, Requirements, Barriers, Components; 14: Data Protection and Data Security in Shared Care Information Systems
About the author
Aviva Ron, Xenia Scheil-Adlung
Summary
The debate about health care reform has gone on for many years
