Universal Health Care 101: Lessons for the Eastern Caribbean and Beyond

March 1, 2009

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Format: Chicago

Evridiki Tsounta. Universal Health Care 101: Lessons for the Eastern Caribbean and Beyond, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 2009) accessed November 9, 2024

Disclaimer: This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate

Summary

Despite the increasing interest in universal health care, little is known about the optimal way to finance, design, and implement it. This paper attempts to fill this gap by providing some general policy recommendations on this important issue. While most of the paper addresses the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) countries, its policy implications are applicable to any country. The paper finds that the best financing option is country-specific depending on a country’s economic, cultural, institutional, demographic and epidemiological characteristics, as well as political economy considerations. However, taxation should be the primary financing source. It also concludes that an appropriate and realistic benefit package would need to be designed to ensure the system’s financial viability. Regarding the optimal way to implement universal health care, certain preconditions are needed, including sound public administration, a small informal economy, and a transparent health financing system that builds social consensus.

Subject: Aging, Expenditure, Health, Health care, Health care spending, Population and demographics, Social security contributions, Taxes

Keywords: Aging, Caribbean, Country authorities, ECCU country, ECCU health system, Financing system, Government expenditure, Government Health spending, Health affair, Health card, Health care, Health care spending, Health cost, Health economics, Health financing, Health financing goal, Health outcome, Health system, Health system attainment, Health system performance, Social security contributions, WP

Publication Details

Pages:

37
Volume:

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DOI:

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Issue:

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Series:

Working Paper No. 2009/061
Stock No:

WPIEA2009061
ISBN:

9781451872088
ISSN:

1018-5941

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