Does community-based health insurance affect lifestyle and timing of treatment seeking behavior?Evidence from Ethiopia

Objectives This paper aims to investigate the effects of enrollment in the Ethiopian community-based health insurance(CBHI)scheme on household preventive care activities and the timing of treatment-seeking behavior for illness symptoms.There is growing concern about the financial sustainability of CBHI schemes in developing countries.However,few empirical studies have identified potential contributors,including ex-ante and ex-post moral hazards.Methods We implement a household fixed-effect panel data regression model,drawing on three rounds of household survey data collected face to face in districts where CBHI scheme is operational and in districts where it is not operational in Ethiopia.Results The findings show that enrolment in CBHI does not significantly influence household behaviour regarding preventive care activities such as water treatment before drinking and handwashing before meals.However,CBHI significantly increases delay in treatment-seeking behaviour for diseases symptoms.Particularly,on average,we estimate about 4-6 h delay for malaria symptoms,a little above 4 h for tetanus,and 10-11 h for tuberculosis among the insured households.Conclusions While there is evidence that CBHI improve the utilization of outpatient or primary care services,our study suggests that insured members may wait longer before visiting health facilities.This delay could be partly due to moral hazard problems,as insured households,particularly those from rural areas,may consider the opportunity costs associated with visiting health facilities for minor symptoms.Overall,it is essential to identify the primary causes of delays in seeking medical services and implement appropriate interventions to encourage insured individuals to seek early medical attention.

A Model to Estimate the Impact of Thresholds and Caps on Coverage Levels in Community-Based Health Insurance Schemes in Low-Income Countries

Background: Community-based health insurance (CBHI) schemes are increasingly implemented in low-income settings. These schemes limit the coverage they offer both by the types of care considered, and by applying thresholds and/or caps to costs reimbursed. The consequences of these thresholds and/or caps on insurance coverage have hitherto been usually ignored, for lack of data on the distributions of healthcare costs or understanding of their impact on effective coverage levels. This article describes a theoretical model to obtain the distributions even without data collection in the field, and demonstrates the quantitative impact of thresholds and/or caps on claim reimbursements. Methods: This model applies to applications on healthcare expenditures in low-income settings, following research methods examined in the Western world. We looked at hospitalizations and tests;we compared the simulated distributions to empirical data obtained through 11 household surveys conducted between 2008 and 2010 in rural locations (9 in India and 2 in Nepal). Results: We found that the shape of the distributions was very similar in all locations for both benefits, and could be represented by a model based on a lognormal distribution. The agreement between theoretical and empirical results was satisfactory (mostly within 10% difference). Conclusions: The model makes it possible to simulate the expected performance of the CBHI (represented by the percentage of costs or bills covered). The aim is to match costs with local levels of willingness-to-pay for health insurance. This model makes it possible to determine at the stage of package-design the optimal levels of thresholds and/or caps for each benefit-type included.

Community Based Health Insurance in India: Prospects and Challenges

The health inequities remain high in India with government and private health expenditures clearly favoring the rich, urban population and organized sector workers and the Out Of Pocket (OOP) spending as high as 80%, afflicting the poor in the worst manner. The focus of the paper is to examine the potential Community Based Health Insurance (CBHI) offers to improve the healthcare access to rural, low-income population and the people in unorganized sector. This is done by drawing empirical evidence from various countries on their experiences of implementing CBHI schemes and its potential for applications to India, problems and challenges faced and the policy and management lessons that may be applicable to India. It can be concluded that CBHI schemes have proved to be effective in reducing the Catastrophic Health Expenditure (CHE) of people. But success of such schemes depends on its design, benefit package it offers, its management, economic and non-economic benefits perceived by enrollees and solidarity among community members. Collaboration of government, NGO’s and donor agencies is very crucial in extending coverage;similarly overcoming the mistrust that people have from such schemes and subsidizing the insurance for the many who cannot pay the premiums are important factors for success of CBHI in India. One of the biggest challenges for the health system is to address the piecemeal approach of CBHI schemes in extending health insurance and inability of such schemes to cover a large number of poor and the unorganized sector workers. Also, there is a need for a stronger policy research to demonstrate: 1) how such schemes can create a larger risk pool, 2) how such schemes can enroll a large number of people in the unorganized sector, 3) the interaction of CBHI schemes with other financing schemes and its link to the health system.

The Acceptance Intention of Consumers for a Dynamic Payment Mechanism for Health Insurance Coverage

Currently, a consumer＇s monthly premium payment amount remitted to the National Health Insurance is based on the ＂monthly real wages,＂ while commercial health insurance uses ＂consumer age＂ as the basis for the premium amount charged. In reality, health, salary, and age have no visible connection. Therefore, the insurance premium scheme using salary and age as standards should be improved and adjusted upon. This study uses the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior as the research basis, and through the designed questionnaire, investigates the health data gathered from wearable devices and uses big data to process the constructed health assessment indicators. These indicators will be used to analyze whether consumers are willing to contribute to their health insurance using the dynamic payment mechanism. Subsequently, empirical research was performed using hypothesis architecture and structural equation.

Community-Based Health Insurance： An Evolutionary Approach to Achieving Universal Coverage in Low-Income Countries

The WHO World Health Assembly, and the most recent WHO World Health Report, have called for all health systems to move toward universal coverage. However, low-income countries have made little progress in this respect. We use existing evidence to describe the evolution of community-based health insurance in low-income countries through the three stages of basic model, enhanced model, and nationwide model. We have concluded that community-based health insurance development is a potential strategy to meet the urgent need for health financing in low-income countries. With careful planning and implementation, it is possible to adopt such evolutionary approach to achieve universal coverage by extending tax-based financing/social insurance characteristics to community-based health insurance schemes.

Study of the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Health Insurance Fund of Hubei Province in 2020

Objective To provide a reference for future budget of health insurance fund for the COVID-19 pandemic in other parts of China or other major public health events.Meanwhile,it also offers a reference for the government to introduce and adjust the policy of health insurance funds after the pandemic.Methods Models of the income,expenditure and cumulative balance of health insurance fund in Hubei Province in 2020 were established and compared.The former was mainly established and tested using SPSS 26.0 and Excel,while the latter was obtained by inferential analysis.Results and Conclusion The COVID-19 pandemic reduced the income and increased expenditure of the health insurance fund in Hubei Province in 2020,resulting in a deficit.The COVID-19 outbreak has caused a deficit in health insurance fund of Hubei Province in the short term,but in the long term,the outbreak will not have a major impact on the health insurance fund.

Balancing medical innovation and affordability in the new healthcare ecosystem in China:Review of pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement policies

The China Basic Medical Insurance Program was created in 1999 with three objectives:equal accessibility,affordability,and quality.Today,it has become the biggest medical insurance program in the world,covering 95%of China's population.Since 2015,China's healthcare ecosystem has been reshaped by increasing innovation,which has in turn been driven by regulatory reform,enhancement of research and development capability,and capital market development.There has also been improved regulatory efficiency to reduce lags in launching drugs.In 2022,nearly 20%of novel active substances launched globally were from China.China has also risen to become the second biggest contributor to innovation in terms of pipelines.Using a“fast-follow”strategy,many locally developed innovative drugs can compete with products from multinational companies in their quality and pricing.However,China's pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry will continue to face challenges in pricing and reimbursement,as well as a shortened product lifecycle with rapid price erosion.The government has already accelerated the timeline for updating the drug reimbursement list and is willing to create a high-quality medical insurance program.However,some obstacles are hard to overcome,including reimbursement for advanced therapies,limited funding and an increasing burden of disease due to an aging population.This article reviews the trajectory of medical innovation in China,including the challenges.Looking forward,balancing affordability and innovation will be critical for China to continue the trajectory of growth.The article also offers some suggestions for future policy reform,including optimizing reimbursement efficiency with a focus on highquality solutions,enhancing the value assessment framework,payer repositioning from“value buyer”to“strategic buyer”,and developing alternative market access pathways for innovative drugs.

Incidence and in-hospital mortality of acute aortic dissection in China： analysis of China Health Insurance Research （CHIRA） Data 2011

Objective Acute aortic dissection （AAD） is a catastrophic event with high early mortality rate, but to date, no data on the incidence of AAD in China's Mainland is available. This study aimed to estimate the incidence of AAD in China and characterize the clinical profile, management and in-hospital outcomes of this vascular event. Methods We used the China Health Insurance Research Data （the CHIRA Data） 2011 which comprises all inpatient hospital records （300,886） during the period of Jan. 1st 2011 to Dec. 31 2011 of 3,335,000 randomly sampled beneficiaries （1,718,500 men and 1,616,500 women） from 25 cities and counties in different economic-geographic regions of China's Mainland. Patients with acute aortic dissection were identified according to International Classification of Disease 10m Revision （ICD-10） of I71.0, The estimated incidence of AAD was calculated using the equation： estimated incidence = 2.0 × （40% × hospital admission rate） ＋ 60% × hospital admission rate. Results The hospital admission rate was 2.0/100,000 （65/3,325,000, 95% CI： 1.2-2.8）. The estimated annual incidence of AAD was 2.8/100,000 （95% CI： 1.9-3.6） and was higher in male than in female （3.7 vs. 1.5, P 〈 0.001）. The mean age was 58.9 ± 13.4 years. During the mean hospital stay of 23 ±6 days, the overall in-hospital mortality was 13.9% （9/65）. Conclusions Our study showed relatively lower but not negligible incidence and in-hospital mortality of AAD in the mainland of China. The mean age of patients with AAD in Chinese was younger than that reported by researches from west countries, while the male to female incidence ratio is similar to those reported by other studies.

Determinants of self-rated private health insurance coverage in Jamaica

The purpose of the current study was to model the health insurance coverage of Jamaicans;and to identify the determinants, strength and predictive power of the model in order to aid clinicians and other health practitioners in understanding those who have health insurance coverage. This study utilized secondary data taken from the dataset of the Jamaica Survey of Living Conditions which was collected between July and October 2002. It was a nationally representative stratified random sample survey of 25,018 respondents, with 50.7% females and 49.3% males. The data was collected by way of a self-administered questionnaire. The non-response rate for the survey was 29.7% with 20.5% not responding to particular questions, 9.0% not participating in the survey and another 0.2% being rejected due to data cleaning. The current research extracted 16,118 people 15 years and older from the survey sample of 25,018 respondents in order to model the determinants of private health insurance coverage in Jamaica. Data were stored, retrieved and analyzed using SPSS for Windows 15.0. A p-value of less than 0.05 was used to establish statistical significance. Descriptive analysis was used to provide baseline information on the sample, and cross-tabulations were used to examine some non-metric variables. Logistic regression was used to identify, determine and establish those factors that influence private health insurance coverage in Jamaica. This study found that approximately 12% of Jamaicans had private health insurance coverage, of which the least health insurance was owned by rural residents (7.5%). Using logistic regression, the findings revealed that twelve variables emerged as statistically significant determinants of health insurance coverage in this sample. These variables are social standing (two weal- thiest quintile: OR = 1.68, 95% CI = 1.23 – 2.30), income (OR = 1.00, 95%CI = 1.00 – 1.00), durable goods (OR = 1.16, 95% CI = 1.12 – 1.19), marital status (married: OR = 1.97, 95% CI = 1.61 – 2.42), area of residence (Peri-urban: OR = 1.45, 95% CI = 1.199 – 1.75;urban: OR = 1.83, 95% CI = 1.40 – 2.40), education (secondary: OR = 1.57, 95% CI = 1.20 – 2.06;tertiary: OR = 9.03, 95% CI = 6.47 – 12.59), social support (OR = 0.64, 95% CI = 0.53 – 0.76), crowding (OR = 1.14, 95% CI = 1.02 – 1.28), psychological conditions (negative affective: OR = 0.97, 95% CI = 0.94 – 1.00;positive affective: OR = 1.11, 95% CI = 1.06 – 1.16), number of males in household (OR = 0.85, 95% CI = 0.77 – 0.93), living arrangements (OR = 0.62, 95% CI = 0.41 – 0.92) and retirement benefits (OR = 1.55, 95% CI = 1.03 – 2.35). This study highlighted the need to address preventative care for the wealthiest, rural residents and the fact that social support is crucial to health care, as well as the fact that medical care costs are borne by the extended family and other social groups in which the individual is (or was) a member, which explains the low demand for health insurance in Jamaica. Private health care in Jamaica is substantially determined by affordability and education rather than illness, and it is a poor measure of the health care- seeking behaviour of Jamaicans.

Hospice and Palliative Care Services in South Korea Supported by the National Health Insurance (NHI) Program

Previous main body of research on end-life-care in South Korea has focused on developing services quality in hospital settings or service payment system in National Health Insurance Program. The delivery system of hospice and palliative care services has evolved in diverse ways but there is little research on reviewing the past history of development and whole picture of them so far. So, the aim of this study is to review the old hospice and palliative care system and also to introduce the current one supported by the National Health Insurance Program in South Korea. The palliative care or hospice services in South Korea have been available in diverse settings and provided by different organizations (i.e. catholic hospitals or charity organizations). Finally, it was set up in 2004 that the hospice team or official Palliative Care Units (PCUs) was established in hospitals, in order to meet the end-of-life care for the patients with terminal cancer under the Cancer Control Act. The current hospice and palliative care services such as pain management, bereavement services, and counselling can be reimbursed by National Health Insurance program since 2008. Nevertheless hospice and palliative care services are available to dying patients, yet the utilization rate of hospice and palliative care services or the length of stay in the palliative care unit (PCU) is still relatively short compared to other country systems. South Korea is undergoing several efforts to expand the services in PCU along with the development of quality indicators for PCU. Hospice and palliative care services are still new in the health care system and unfamiliar to the public so it requires raising awareness for medical professionals and the public as well as further research.

Health insurance and switching behavior: Evidence from the Netherlands

Introduction: Since the introduction of the Health Insurance Act in the Netherlands in 2006, insurers are incentivized to compete on prices for basic health insurance, and on price and quality for supplementary insurance. The new health insurance system aimed to create a more competitive market in which consumers would switch health plans, thereby stimulating insurers to price competition and quality improvement. This article evaluates the switching behavior of Dutch consumers and evaluates whether this behavior is advantageous to the goals of the reform. Methods: Three surveys were conducted: from 2005-2006 (n = 478), 2008-2009 (n = 389), and 2010-2011 (n = 191). Results: In 2005-2006, almost 20 percent of the Dutch consumers switched their insurance company. In between 2006 and 2012, however, the percentage of switchers decreased to less than four percent. The main cause of this decrease is that consumers no longer perceive sufficient differences between insurance companies in terms of premium and service. In addition, consumers have difficulties finding the proper information making the right decision and believe they may not be accepted for the supplementary insurance. Consequently, insurance companies only perceive limited incentives to create a more competitive market. Conclusion: Clear and unambiguous information, combined with an obligatory acceptance for the supplementary insurance might help to improve the potential mobility of Dutch consumers.

Household Perceptions, Willingness to Pay, Benefit Package Preferences, Health System Readiness for National Health Insurance Scheme in Southern Nigeria

Introduction: Several Nigerians are completely denied access to adequate health care because of cultural, temporal and financial factors with inequity. Objectives: To ascertain the household perceptions, willingness to pay, benefit package preferences, and health systems readiness for Insurance Scheme. Methods: A cross-sectional study of 400 heads of households and 43 health workers in Enugu, Southern Nigeria. Results: Awareness of NHIS among the heads of household was 56.8%, while it was 86% among the health workers. Awareness of NHIS among heads of households was significantly associated to both educational level (X2 = 16.083, P = 0.001), and occupation (X2 = 5.694, P = 0.017). More males (61.6%) had correct perceptions of NHIS compared to females (58.6%), but not statistically significant (X2 = 0.336, P = 0.562). Majority of households respondents 89% are willing to pay for NHIS. Willingness to pay was significantly associated to occupation (X2 = 5.169, df = 1, P = 0.023), but willingness to pay mandatory 5% premium was not significantly associated to occupation (X2 = 0.884, P = 347). Only 11.6% of the health facilities are enlisted as providers in the scheme. Conclusion: Willingness to pay was high, but majority are not ready to pay 5% premium of their earnings. Awareness creation programmes should be improved for the public, and more health facilities enlisted for wider coverage.

Assessing the Impact of Health Insurance on Household Financial Protection in Togo

Context: To facilitate financial access to care for the population, health insurance mechanisms have been established, in particular the National Health Insurance Institute, which covers civil servants and their dependents. In addition, other voluntary and community mechanisms have been developed. After several years of implementation, the level of catastrophic health expenditures among insured individuals shows that there is still a considerable level of financial risk associated with health care. This study aims to assess the impact of health insurance in Togo on insured populations. Methodology: The data used in this study come from the harmonized survey on household living conditions carried out in 2018 by the National Institute of Statistics, Economic and Demographic Studies. The propensity score matching method was used according to the following steps: estimation of propensity scores, verification of the conditional independence hypothesis (balancing property) and estimation of the average treatment effect on treated. Stata V14.2 software was used. Findings: The average effect of health insurance on household financial protection is −0.012 for the nearest neighbor method, −0.013 for the matching radius method, −0.015 for the Kernel and −0.016 for the stratification method. Results showed that health insurance contributes to reducing catastrophic health expenditures, but their effect remains very limited. This could be explained by the level of care package covered and the cost covered. Conclusion: Health insurance contributes to the reduction of catastrophic health expenses for households. However, it is important to widen the range of care covered and the cost covered. In addition, measures to extend this coverage to a larger proportion of the population will make it possible to have a greater impact.

Assessing Drug Use Indicators in Health Insurance Facilities, Gezira State, Sudan, 2017-2018

Background: Inappropriate use of medicines is a global concern with serious consequences related to prescribing, dispensing, and use. WHO estimated that 50% of medicines are not used correctly on their journey from the facility to home. Objective: To assess medicines use using WHO drug core indicators regarding prescribing, patient, and facilities. Setting: Outpatients, Health centers in Wadmadani locality (Urban area) in Gezira State, Sudan. Method: A cross-sectional, prospective, analytical study was conducted in 30 health centers and 60 patients from each center were selected using a simple random sampling technique. WHO indicators form was used to collect data containing different variables. T-test at a level of confidence of 95% was used to test differences between indicators. Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) was used for data analysis. Results: The main prescribing indicators were 2.5 ± 0.6 for drugs per encounter, 44.1% ± 14.2%. Generic 54 ± 18.0 antibiotics, 12.0% ± 9.3% injectable, and 95.2% ± 11.5% of drugs were prescribed according to the NHIF-EML. The main patient’s indicators were, 2.9 ± 0.8 minutes for consultation time, 99.5 ± 36.8 seconds for dispensing time, and 72.5% ± 16.0% for medicines actually dispensed, 49.0% ± 18.0% for medicines adequately labeled, and 22.5% ± 7.3% of the patient’s knowledge about the correct dose. The Facility specific indicators were 66.7% for the availability of a copy of EML, while the percentage of key drugs in the stock was 75.3% ± 11.6%. No statistically significant differences were found between direct and indirect facilities except in generic prescribing. Main Outcome Measure: • Interventions to improve Generic and antibiotics prescribing indicators. • The patient-to-physician ratio should be revised to optimize consultation time. • The availability of key drugs should be improved to make sure effective treatment. • The pharmacy cadre should be oriented and trained to improve patients’ compliance. Conclusion: The study concluded that there was irrational use of medicines when investigated by WHO drug core indicators. So, the study recommended interventions to improve the rationale prescribing, dispensing, and use of medicines.

Impact of Dialysis Coverage on the Provision of Universal Health Insurance in the Republic of the Congo

Introduction: The launch of health insurance in the Republic of the Congo took place against a backdrop of extremely high costs for dialysis, which was not one of the services financed within this framework. The aim of this study is to assess the impact of including dialysis in the health insurance package in Congo. Methodology: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study with an evaluative aim, analyzing the impact of dialysis on the financing capacity of health insurance and health facilities to provide this type of care. Results: The results show that including dialysis in the universal health insurance package will require an additional financial effort of 6.20% of the current total financing capacity of the care basket. Most dialysis sessions are provided by the private health sector (87.5%), whose health facilities are unevenly distributed across the country, and concentrated in the country’s two major cities. This problem is the dual consequence of the very high cost of a dialysis session (average cost 140,234,375 FCFA or 229 US Dollars) and the number of patients under care, which will increase in the absence of effective and ongoing prevention efforts against chronic diseases in general and end-stage renal failure in particular. Conclusion: Dialysis is a high-impact public health intervention. The impact of its inclusion in the universal health insurance care package is difficult to bear financially. For dialysis to be covered by universal health insurance, additional funding and improved technical facilities are needed.

An Overview Study of Health Insurance in India

Health insurance is a mechanism by which a person protects himself from financial loss caused due to accident and/or disability.The chairman of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority(IRDA)has mentioned that low consumer awareness and insufficient healthcare infrastructure are the major hindrances to widen the reach of healthcare insurance in India.Healthcare costs have witnessed a phenomenal rise in the current times.This has led the customers to insure not only themselves but their family members for any future medical expenses and other related requirements.The need to insure assumes is more importance for older generations who are either retired or will be retired in near future.Given high health cost,it is important for us to get covered for health risks.With this,a good insurance policy is needed to cover doctor's visit,laboratory tests,hospital stays and diagnostic tests.There are quite a few companies covering health risks with good insurance policies.Health insurance(popularly known as Mediclaim)offers protection in case of unexpected medical emergencies.In case of a sudden illness or accident,the health insurance policy takes care of the hospitalization,medical and other costs incurred.Thus,health insurance to be introduced to all consumers in India to protect them from financial loss caused by unfortunate incidents.

Health Insurance:Better Safe than Sorry!

If your employer is sending you to China, chances are you will enjoy the status of an expatriate and all the benefits that come with it, including health insurance. However, if you＇re not that lucky, you＇ll have to deal with this painfully expensive matter on your own, unless, of course, you decide not to purchase health insurance. But in a country where serious or even fatal accidents and health emergencies can and do happen, you would literally be taking your life into your own hands.

Factors determining membership in community-based health insurance in West Africa:a scoping review

Background:In many low-income countries,households bear most of the health care costs.Community-based health insurance(CBHI)schemes have multiplied since the 1990s in West Africa.They have significantly improved their members’access to health care.However,a large proportion of users are reluctant to subscribe to a local CBHI.Identifying the major factors affecting membership will be useful for improving CBHI coverage.The objective of this research is to obtain a general overview of existing evidence on the determinants of CBHI membership in West Africa.Methods:A review of studies reporting on the factors determining membership in CBHI schemes in West Africa was conducted using guidelines developed by the Joanna Briggs Institute.Several databases were searched(PubMed,ScienceDirect,Global Health database,Embase,EconLit,Cairn.info,BDPS,Cochrane database and Google Scholar)for relevant articles available by August 15,2022,with no methodological or linguistic restrictions in electronic databases and grey literature.Results:The initial literature search resulted in 1611 studies,and 10 studies were identified by other sources.After eliminating duplicates,we reviewed the titles of the remaining 1275 studies and excluded 1080 irrelevant studies based on title and 124 studies based on abstracts.Of the 71 full texts assessed for eligibility,32 additional papers were excluded(not relevant,outside West Africa,poorly described results)and finally 39 studies were included in the synthesis.Factors that negatively affect CBHI membership include advanced age,low education,low household income,poor quality of care,lack of trust in providers and remoteness,rules considered too strict or inappropriate,low trust in administrators and inadequate information campaign.Conclusions:This study shows many lessons to be learned from a variety of countries and initiatives that could make CBHI an effective tool for increasing access to quality health care in order to achieve universal health coverage.Cover-age through CBHI schemes could be improved through communication,improved education and targeted financial support.

Disparity in reimbursement for tuberculosis care among different health insurance schemes: evidence from three counties in central China

Background:Health inequity is an important issue all around the world.The Chinese basic medical security system comprises three major insurance schemes,namely the Urban Employee Basic Medical Insurance(UEBMI),the Urban Resident Basic Medical Insurance(URBMI),and the New Cooperative Medical Scheme(NCMS).Little research has been conducted to look into the disparity in payments among the health insurance schemes in China.In this study,we aimed to evaluate the disparity in reimbursements for tuberculosis(TB)care among the abovementioned health insurance schemes.Methods:This study uses a World Health Organization(WHO)framework to analyze the disparities and equity relating to the three dimensions of health insurance:population coverage,the range of services covered,and the extent to which costs are covered.Each of the health insurance scheme’s policies were categorized and analyzed.An analysis of the claims database of all hospitalizations reimbursed from 2010 to 2012 in three counties of Yichang city(YC),which included 1506 discharges,was conducted to identify the differences in reimbursement rates and out-of-pocket(OOP)expenses among the health insurance schemes.Results:Tuberculosis patients had various inpatient expenses depending on which scheme they were covered by(TB patients covered by the NCMS have less inpatient expenses than those who were covered by the URBMI,who have less inpatient expenses than those covered by the UEBMI).We found a significant horizontal inequity of healthcare utilization among the lower socioeconomic groups.In terms of financial inequity,TB patients who earned less paid more.The NCMS provides modest financial protection,based on income.Overall,TB patients from lower socioeconomic groups were the most vulnerable.Conclusion:There are large disparities in reimbursement for TB care among the three health insurance schemes and this,in turn,hampers TB control.Reducing the gap in health outcomes between the three health insurance schemes in China should be a focus of TB care and control.Achieving equity through integrated policies that avoid discrimination is likely to be effective.

Network analysis of Iranian’s health insurance ecosystem before and after the introduction of Universal Health Insurance law

Introduction The policy-making process in health reform is challenging due to the complexity of organizations,overlapping roles,and diversity of responsibilities.The present study aims to investigate and analyze the network of actors in the Iran health insurance ecosystem regarding the laws before and after the adoption of the Universal Health Insurance(UHI).Methods The present study was done by sequential exploratory mixed method research,consisting of two distinct phases.During the qualitative phase,the actors and issues pertaining to the laws of the Iranian health insurance ecosystem from 1971 to 2021 were identified through a systematic search of the laws and regulations section of the Research Center of the Islamic Legislative Assembly website.Qualitative data was analyzed in three steps using directed content analysis.During the quantitative phase,in order to draw the communication network of the actors in Iran’s health insurance ecosystem,the data related to the nodes and links of the networks was collected.The communication networks were drawn using Gephi software and the micro-and macro-indicators of network were calculated and analyzed.Results There were 245 laws and 510 articles identified in the field of health insurance in Iran from 1971 to 2021.Most of the legal comments were on financial matters and credit allocation,and the payment of premiums.The number of actors before and after the enactment of the UHI Law was 33 and 137,respectively.The Ministry of Health and Medical Education and the Iran Health Insurance Organization were found the two main actors in the network before and after the approval of this law.Conclusions Adopting a UHI Law and delegating various legal missions and tasks,often with support to the health insurance organization,have facilitated the achievement of the law objectives.However,it has created a poor governance system and a network of actors with low coherence.Based on the results of the study,it is suggested to reduce actor roles and separate them for better governance and to prevent corruption in health insurance ecosystem.Introducing knowledge and technology brokers can be effective in strengthening governance and filling the structural gaps between actors.