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July 08, 2007
Special Session on Future Directions in Health Care Financing (Perspectives and Debate)
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Date: 8 July 2007
Time: 9am - 5pm
Venue: DANIDA, Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Udenrigsministeriet) Asiatisk Plads 2, Copenhagen, Denmark
Download: Controversies in Health Care Financing: Perspectives and Debate [PDF - 367KB]
Download: Agenda [PDF - 72KB]
Special Session on Future Directions in Health Care Financing (Perspectives and Debate) which will be held at the 6th Congress of the International Health Economics Association (iHEA) at DANIDA in Copenhagen on July 8, 2007.
Objectives of the Pre-Conference Session on Health Financing
Although much is known about the issues and policy options for improving health financing in other regions and higher income levels, there is still a considerable knowledge gap on how best to approach this challenge in the context of the low-income levels and weak institutional capacity. The overall goal of the pre conference session on health care financing will be to deepen understanding about how to secure:
- more fiscally sustainable sources of funding for the health sector;
- improved management of financial vulnerability; and
- better value for money spent on health care
Without additional money and better spending in the health sector, the Africa region and low-income countries in other regions will not achieve the MDG goals. Given the binding constraints on fiscal space allocated to the health sector, business as usual is unlikely to secure a sustainable source of financing for these countries. Yet moving forward on the health financing agenda is not easy. The proposed session will examine and debate the role of several major funding mechanism that are at the center of a lively debate on health care financing in both low-income and higher-income countries today. They include:
- Fee Exemption vs User Fees
- Government Funded National Health Services vs Social Health Insurance
- Solidarity vs Consumer Driven Health Financing
- Old vs New International Health Financing Architecture
Each of the four sessions will start with a presentation of the key issues raised by the particular topic in question. This will be followed by a panel debate on the key controversial issues raised by the particular topic. The panelists will be policymakers and analysts that have real on the ground experience. Given known ongoing debate on the role of each of these topics, panelists will be chosen who represent diverse views on each of the selected topics.
