Comparative Health Systems

Comparative Health Systems

Questions and Answers

Limitations of having a multiple payer versus a single payer

In a majority of countries, the resources of the government are insufficient to the timely and successful collection of taxes. This is mainly due to the number of people who are earning their livelihood from the informal economy. This leads to tax evasion at a grand level and the tax base is limited as a result. Government revenues may not be the ideal choice for such countries, particularly for funding single payer insurance systems. Instead, alternative mechanisms need to be installed such as community-based pools that are effective when it comes to the collection of revenues. This type of a collection system is an example of a multi payer system. Multi payer systems are also preferred by many governments because they have a greater sensitivity for the specific demands of individuals when it comes to healthcare services. This means that the systems has a greater capacity totweak and tailor the prices and services according to the specific demands.

A single payer system relies mainly on the mechanisms of tax collection that are used for collecting revenues or various other purposes. Hence, they are a more efficient means of revenue collection. This means that they are ideally suited to collect revenues from an entire population. In addition, they also have a much lower collection cost when compared with multi payer systems. In single payer health insurance systems, the accumulative funding level is generally decided upon with the help of an elaborate budgeting process which is usually carried out on a yearly basis. In a multi payer system, monitoring and controlling collective spending is made much more difficult since information systems, payment, and utilization monitoring may differ from one insurer to another. This leads to cost shifting where an insurer using the same product may actually spend much more than another insurer. Single payer insurance systems generally provide subsidies to individuals with a low income since they are more progressively financed.

Health system model recommended for low and middle income countries

In countries where a majority of the population has a middle- to low-income range, a multi payer healthcare system is more ideally suited. This is because although single payer healthcare systems work by establishing a single uniform scheme for the purpose of remuneration, which obviously helps to save costs related to transactions, it is only suited to countries that have a reasonably high income range, as medical billing systems have become computerized and this has enabled physicians and hospitals to bill using different systems, leaving little room for negotiations. On the other hand, multi payer systems encourage negotiations in the interest of the client, something that is very common in countries with middle or low income.

Advantages and disadvantages of having strong government involvement in:

Healthcare financing

It is absolutely true that a strong government involvement in the healthcare system risks reducing it to a bureaucratic system which is rather wasteful when compared with privately run systems. However, the primary advantage of a ...