UHC Forward: Towards Universal Health Coverage

One of the most striking discussions during the Regional Forum on Health Care Financing in Phnom Penh on May 2-4, 2012 was the proliferation in the Mekong sub-region of financing schemes aimed to improve access to quality health services.

Cambodia might be an extreme example where you have so many health equity funds –for maternal and child health services, in-patient hospital care, out-patient care, for chronic diseases, et cetera. On top of that, there are various incentive schemes aimed at specific individual providers. Each donor, each disease control program has spawned its own incentive scheme for each specific output. An extreme example is one hospital in Battambang where there are as many as 50 incentive schemes. Is this a perversion of success of the initial pilots? Or a symptom of our collective inability to work together?

It appears to me that it is to a large extent driven by donors, well-meaning ones who want to get on the bandwagon of a successful model.

The World Health Organization will web-stream portions of the second Barcelona Course on Health Financing from May 14-18, 2012. This week-long intensive training program is offered by the Barcelona Office for Health Systems Strengthening of the WHO Regional Office for Europe, Division of Health Systems and Public Health.

The course reviews effective policy instruments to improve health system performance through better health financing policy.

These are exciting times for health care reform in India. In November 2011, the High Level Expert Group (HLEG) – appointed by the Prime Minister and headed by Dr. Srinath Reddy, President of the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) –submitted its final report on universal health coverage to the National Planning Commission. The report called for an increase in health spending from 1.2% of GDP to 2.5% of GDP by 2022, to ensure that every citizen has access to a broad health benefits package.

Results for Development Institute Managing Director Robert Hecht recently sat down with Dr. Reddy to discuss the HLEG report and its potential impact on India’s health system.

Hecht: What was the motivation for the HLEG report?

Nathaniel Otoo is the Director of Administration and General Counsel of the National Health Insurance Authority of Ghana. His 20 years of work experience has spanned both the public and private sectors, with the last 9 of them being in social protection. He holds an LLB Degree from the University of Ghana and a professional qualification in law from the Ghana School of Law. He also holds an MA degree in International Relations from the International University of Japan. Mr. Otoo has played a key role in the ongoing legal reforms in Ghana’s National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

Wellington: Mr. Otoo, you have worked at the National Health Insurance Association (NHIA) for 6 years. In your opinion, what are some of the key policy decisions that have contributed to the success of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS)?

Otoo: The best policy has been deciding to implement the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).