New Healthcare Economics Study Findings Recently Were Reported by Researchers at University of York (Squaring the cube: Towards an operational model of optimal universal health coverage)

2020 JAN 31 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- New research on Economics - Healthcare Economics is the subject of a report. According to news reporting from York, United Kingdom, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “Universal Health Coverage (UHC) has become a key goal of health policy in many developing countries. However, implementing UHC poses tough policy choices about: what treatments to provide (the depth of coverage); to what proportion of the population (the breadth of coverage); at what price to patients (the height of coverage).”

Financial support for this research came from UK Research and Innovation.

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from the University of York, “This paper uses a theoretical mathematical programming model to derive analytically the optimal balance between the range of services provided and the proportion of the population covered under UHC, using the general principles of cost-effectiveness analysis. In contrast to most CEA, the model allows for variations in both the costs of provision and the social benefits of treatments, depending on the deprivation level of the population. We illustrate empirically the optimal trade-off between the size of the benefits package and the proportion of the population securing access to each treatment for a hypothetical East African country, based on WHO data on the costs and benefits of treatments at different coverage levels. We begin with a scenario allowing coverage levels to vary, then apply differential equity weights to the benefits of coverage, and finally illustrate a scenario where interventions are either provided at 95% coverage or not at all (as is usually done in health benefits package design) for comparison.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “The results present the optimal trade-off between the social benefits of pursuing full population coverage, at the expense of expanding the benefits package for ‘easier to reach’ populations.”

For more information on this research see: Squaring the cube: Towards an operational model of optimal universal health coverage. Journal of Health Economics, 2020;():102282. Journal of Health Economics can be contacted at: Elsevier Science BV, PO Box 211, 1000 AE Amsterdam, Netherlands. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; Journal of Health Economics - http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-health-economics/)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting J. Ochalek, Center for Health Economics, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK. Additional authors for this research include G. Manthalu and P.C Smith.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2019.102282. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Publisher contact information for the Journal of Health Economics is: Elsevier Science BV, PO Box 211, 1000 AE Amsterdam, Netherlands.

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