Healthcare financing reform in Latvia : Switching from social health insurance to NHS and back?

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorMitenbergs, Uldis
dc.contributor.authorBrigis, Girts
dc.contributor.authorQuentin, Wilm
dc.contributor.institutionDepartment of Public Health and Epidemiology
dc.date.accessioned2021-05-18T09:35:02Z
dc.date.available2021-05-18T09:35:02Z
dc.date.issued2014-11-01
dc.descriptionPublisher Copyright: © 2014 The Authors.
dc.description.abstractIn the 1990s, Latvia aimed at introducing Social Health Insurance (SHI) but later changed to a National Health Service (NHS) type system. The NHS is financed from general taxation, provides coverage to the entire population, and pays for a basic service package purchased from independent public and private providers. In November 2013, the Cabinet of Ministers passed a draft Healthcare Financing Law, aiming at increasing public expenditures on health by introducing Compulsory Health Insurance (CHI) and linking entitlement to health services to the payment of income tax. Opponents of the reform argue that linking entitlement to health services to the payment of income tax does not have the potential to increase public expenditures on health but that it can contribute to compromising universal coverage and access to health services of certain population groups. In view of strong opposition, it is unlikely that the law will be adopted before parliamentary elections in October 2014. Nevertheless, the discussion around the law is interesting because of three main reasons: (1) it can illustrate why the concept of SHI remains attractive - not only for Latvia but also for other countries, (2) it shows that a change from NHS to SHI does not imply major institutional reforms, and (3) it demonstrates the potential problems of introducing SHI, i.e. of linking entitlement to health services to the payment of contributions.en
dc.description.statusPeer reviewed
dc.format.extent6
dc.format.extent358733
dc.identifier.citationMitenbergs, U, Brigis, G & Quentin, W 2014, 'Healthcare financing reform in Latvia : Switching from social health insurance to NHS and back?', Health Policy, vol. 118, no. 2, pp. 147-152. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2014.09.013
dc.identifier.doi10.1016/j.healthpol.2014.09.013
dc.identifier.issn0168-8510
dc.identifier.urihttps://dspace.rsu.lv/jspui/handle/123456789/4357
dc.identifier.urlhttp://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84922647716&partnerID=8YFLogxK
dc.language.isoeng
dc.relation.ispartofHealth Policy
dc.rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.subjectBaltic states
dc.subjectHealth care reform
dc.subjectHealth policy
dc.subjectHealthcare financing
dc.subjectInsurance
dc.subject3.3 Health sciences
dc.subject1.1. Scientific article indexed in Web of Science and/or Scopus database
dc.subjectHealth Policy
dc.subjectSDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
dc.titleHealthcare financing reform in Latvia : Switching from social health insurance to NHS and back?en
dc.type/dk/atira/pure/researchoutput/researchoutputtypes/contributiontojournal/article

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
Healthcare_financing_reform_in_Latvia.pdf
Size:
350.33 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Download

Collections

Research outputs from Pure / Zinātniskās darbības rezultāti no ZDIS Pure