Reducing the impact of insurance market failures with regulations such as community-rated premiums, standardized benefit packages and open enrolment, yield limited impact because they create room for selection bias. The Colombian social health insurance system started a market approach in 1993...

Is President Obama’s health-care law dead? Ever since the United States Supreme Court heard arguments about its constitutionality in late March, speculation has been rife that, at a minimum, the Justices will strike down the individual mandate. The predictions rest on a single assertion: that...

A famous idea to maintain affordable health expenditures is to cut back statutory health insurance (SHI) to a basic insurance and to introduce supplementary private health insurance (PHI), permitted to cover the remaining benefits and to apply managed care mechanisms. The measure is supposed to...

A famous idea to maintain affordable health expenditures is to cut back statutory health insurance (SHI) to a basic insurance and to introduce supplementary private health insurance (PHI), permitted to cover the remaining benefits and to apply managed care mechanisms. The measure is supposed to...

A famous idea to maintain affordable health expenditures is to cut back statutory health insurance (SHI) to a basic insurance and to introduce supplementary private health insurance (PHI), permitted to cover the remaining benefits and to apply managed care mechanisms. The measure is supposed to...

A famous idea to maintain affordable health expenditures is to cut back statutory health insurance (SHI) to a basic insurance and to introduce supplementary private health insurance (PHI), permitted to cover the remaining benefits and to apply managed care mechanisms. The measure is supposed to...

The Philippines has placed a strong emphasis on achieving Universal Health Coverage. In recent years, earmarked funds from new alcohol and tobacco taxes have substantially increased government funds available for health. This additional funding offers great potential to improve access and health...

This contribution seeks to answer two related questions. First, what is the purpose of social health insurance? Or put in slightly different terms, what are the reasons for social (or public) health insurance to exist, even to dominate private health insurance in most developed countries? And...

Since the Czech healthcare system financing is based on Statutory Health Insurance scheme, it relies heavily on wage-based contributions from employers and employees and thus may be prone to business cycle fluctuations. This turned out to be a problem after the 2008 financialcrisis when the...

Since the Czech healthcare system financing is based on Statutory Health Insurance scheme, it relies heavily on wage-based contributions from employers and employees and thus may be prone to business cycle fluctuations. This turned out to be a problem after the 2008 financialcrisis when the...