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Financing Healthcare in Central and Eastern European Countries: How Far Are We from Universal Health Coverage?
- Source :
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Inequalities in Health Care, Volume 18, Issue 4, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Vol 18, Iss 1382, p 1382 (2021)
- Publication Year :
- 2021
- Publisher :
- CHE, 2021.
-
Abstract
- After the fall of communism, the healthcare systems of Central and Eastern European countries underwent enormous transformation, resulting in departure from publicly financed healthcare. This had significant adverse effects on equity in healthcare, which are still evident. In this paper, we analyzed the role of government and households in financing healthcare in eight countries (EU-8): Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. A desk research method was applied to collect quantitative data on healthcare expenditures and qualitative data on gaps in universal health coverage. A linear regression analysis was used to analyze a trend in health expenditure over the years 2000–2018. Our results indicate that a high reliance on out-of-pocket payments persists in many EU-8 countries, and only a few countries have shown a significant downward trend over time. The gaps in universal coverage in the EU-8 countries are due to explicit rationing (a limited benefit package, patient cost sharing) and implicit mechanisms (wait times). There is need to increase the role of public financing in CEE countries through budget prioritization, reducing patient co-payments for medical products and medicines, and extending the benefit package for these goods, as well as improving the quality of care.
- Subjects :
- Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis
Slovenia
lcsh:Medicine
universal health coverage
post-communist society
0302 clinical medicine
Universal Health Insurance
Health care
Slowenien
030212 general & internal medicine
Estland
media_common
Czech Republic
Sozialwissenschaften, Soziologie
Polen
030503 health policy & services
Health Policy
Rationing
Lettland
health care
Eastern european
Ostmitteleuropa
health insurance
Cost sharing
ddc:300
Ungarn
Gesundheitspolitik
postkommunistische Gesellschaft
0305 other medical science
Public finance
Slowakei
Estonia
Slovakia
Litauen
Krankenversicherung
media_common.quotation_subject
Gesundheitswesen
Role of Government V - ISSP 2016 (ZA6900 v2.0.0) [healthcare financing
International Social Survey Programme]
Article
Social Security
East Central Europe
03 medical and health sciences
healthcare financing
Humans
Finanzierung
soziale Sicherung
Social sciences, sociology, anthropology
Finance
Central and Eastern European countries
Government
Hungary
Equity (economics)
business.industry
ISSP
Gesundheitsversorgung
funding
lcsh:R
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
Tschechische Republik
Lithuania
Payment
Latvia
health care delivery system
Business
Poland
Health Expenditures
Delivery of Health Care
Subjects
Details
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Inequalities in Health Care, Volume 18, Issue 4, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Vol 18, Iss 1382, p 1382 (2021)
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....3b350ad345f71ff7b66b972d58768d62