Studies from University of Washington in the Area of Health Insurance Described (Evolution and patterns of global health financing 1995-2014:…

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Studies from University of Washington in the Area of Health Insurance Described (Evolution and patterns of global health financing 1995-2014: development assistance for health, and government, prepaid private, and out-of-pocket health spending ...)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Weekly News -- Data detailed on Health Insurance have been presented. According to news originating from Seattle, Washington, by VerticalNews correspondents, research stated, "An adequate amount of prepaid resources for health is important to ensure access to health services and for the pursuit of universal health coverage. Previous studies on global health financing have described the relationship between economic development and health financing."

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from the University of Washington, "In this study, we further explore global health financing trends and examine how the sources of funds used, types of services purchased, and development assistance for health disbursed change with economic development. We also identify countries that deviate from the trends. We estimated national health spending by type of care and by source, including development assistance for health, based on a diverse set of data including programme reports, budget data, national estimates, and 964 National Health Accounts. These data represent health spending for 184 countries from 1995 through 2014. We converted these data into a common inflation-adjusted and purchasing power-adjusted currency, and used non-linear regression methods to model the relationship between health financing, time, and economic development. Between 1995 and 2014, economic development was positively associated with total health spending and a shift away from a reliance on development assistance and out-of-pocket (OOP) towards government spending. The largest absolute increase in spending was in high-income countries, which increased to purchasing power-adjusted $5221 per capita based on an annual growth rate of 3.0%. The largest health spending growth rates were in upper-middle-income (5.9) and lower-middle-income groups (5.0), which both increased spending at more than 5% per year, and spent $914 and $267 per capita in 2014, respectively. Spending in low-income countries grew nearly as fast, at 4.6%, and health spending increased from $51 to $120 per capita. In 2014, 59.2% of all health spending was financed by the government, although in low-income and lower-middle-income countries, 29.1% and 58.0% of spending was OOP spending and 35.7% and 3.0% of spending was development assistance. Recent growth in development assistance for health has been tepid; between 2010 and 2016, it grew annually at 1.8%, and reached US$37.6 billion in 2016. Nonetheless, there is a great deal of variation revolving around these averages. 29 countries spend at least 50% more than expected per capita, based on their level of economic development alone, whereas 11 countries spend less than 50% their expected amount. Health spending remains disparate, with low-income and lower-middle-income countries increasing spending in absolute terms the least, and relying heavily on OOP spending and development assistance."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "Moreover, tremendous variation shows that neither time nor economic development guarantee adequate prepaid health resources, which are vital for the pursuit of universal health coverage."

For more information on this research see: Evolution and patterns of global health financing 1995-2014: development assistance for health, and government, prepaid private, and out-of-pocket health spending in 184 countries. Lancet, 2017;389(10083):1981-2004. Lancet can be contacted at: Elsevier Science Inc, 360 Park Ave South, New York, NY 10010-1710, USA. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; Lancet - www.journals.elsevier.com/lancet/)

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from J. Dieleman, University of Washington, Inst Hlth Metr & Evaluat, Seattle, WA 98195, United States. Additional authors for this research include M. Campbell, A. Chapin, E. Eldrenkamp, V.Y. Fan, A. Haakenstad, J. Kates, Y.Y. Liu, T. Matyasz, A. Micah, A. Reynolds, N. Sadat, M.T. Schneider, R. Sorensen, T. Evans, D. Evans, C. Kurowski, A. Tandon, K.M. Abbas and S Abera.