Health Insurance and Access to Health Care Services in Developing Countries
There is growing awareness of the fact that illhealth<br />perpetuates poverty. In order to prevent<br />the negative downward spiral of poverty and<br />illness, developing countries in recent years<br />are increasingly implemen ting various models<br />of health insu...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta
2014-02-01
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| Series: | Jurnal Studi Pemerintahan |
| Online Access: | https://journal.umy.ac.id/index.php/jsp/article/view/129 |
| Summary: | There is growing awareness of the fact that illhealth<br />perpetuates poverty. In order to prevent<br />the negative downward spiral of poverty and<br />illness, developing countries in recent years<br />are increasingly implemen ting various models<br />of health insurance to increase access to<br />health care for poor households. While there<br />is consistent evidence that health insurance<br />schemes have caused an increase in access<br />to health generally, the debate regarding the<br />most appropriate health insurance scheme<br />that suits the poor continues unabated.<br />Drawing on relevant literature this paper<br />adopts a framework for assessing access to<br />health care services to explore four<br />dimensions of access, including: geographic<br />accessibility, availability, affordability,<br />acceptability of services. The paper argues<br />that irrespective of the model of health<br />insurance being implemented these<br />dimensions of access govern the poor and the<br />poorest household decisions about enrolling in<br />a health insurance scheme and utilizing health<br />care services. Policy makers and planners<br />need to pay attention to these important<br />dimensions when making decisions regarding<br />health insurance and health care services<br />utilization to ensure that the peculiar needs of<br />the poor are taken on board.<br />Key words: access, developing countries,<br />health insurance models, universal health<br />coverage, |
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| ISSN: | 1907-8374 2337-8220 |