by Fred Fortin
February 23, 2008 at 7:56 pm
· Filed under Uncategorized
The Economist reports that the “long-awaited and much-debated reform plan is likely to be revealed at the annual session of China’s parliament, which opens on March 5th.” The report speculates on a stronger role for government and more money from the central budget.
The rural and urban programs already introduced, and expected to be expanded, are fairly thin in benefits often paying only a fraction of the actual cost of care. And what is conspicuously absent in the Economist report is any mention of the government’s previously demonstrated interest in the expansion of the private health insurance industry.
The dynamics of the rising cost of healthcare in China — as in most countries and the U.S. — will not be addressed by the simple, although important, expansion of programs to achieve universal coverage. Universal health care without paying adequate attention to the outcomes of that care, will be a very expensive and troubling experience for China.
Innovative, mission-oriented, private sector health plans working hand in hand with government programs, is the only model that offers any hope for the development of an effective value-based healthcare system. Let’s just hope that China does not have to learn this lesson the hard way.
Permalink
[…] my entire post over at the World Health Care Blog. Posted in China, Healthcare. Tags: China, Healthcare, […]
Universal health care was designed in 1990’s but finally it was not in practice during last decades. A word “Effect first, Efficiency second” was quite popular in primary health care administration.
I also question this new innovation will succeed or not. Developed cities such as Shanghai and Shenzhen surely will be not satisfied with the general delivery. Monopolistic industries, banks and China Post for example, still have stable health and welfare even if Chen’s new plan is going to be pushed to the health market of mainland China.
I see none of any incentives from last ten years and those following.
[…] 既然只剩十天就是「两会」，新医改方案是否受立法部门认可想必没有悬念，我们只会听到「胜出」或「出局」中的一个终局。熟知中国卫生事务的Fred Fordin一直关注内地的卫生保健，他在World Health Care Blog专栏里多次向全球读者介绍中国的健康照顾现状。最近一次Fred发表对卫生改革的看法，流露出对中国卫生大锅饭的担忧： The dynamics of the rising cost of healthcare in China — as in most countries and the U.S. — will not be addressed by the simple, although important, expansion of programs to achieve universal coverage. Universal health care without paying adequate attention to the outcomes of that care, will be a very expensive and troubling experience for China. […]
[…] which frequency escalate into broader social instability. Let’s hope that the reported emerging health care reform measures begin to address this increasingly worrisome […]
[…] I have argued before, the expansion of coverage without paying serious attention to the outcomes of that care, will be a […]
HTML-Tags:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>
