Short Abstract:
Social health protection (SHP) is a primary objective of achieving universal health coverage; however, the challenge that remains is defining a comprehensive measurement of SHP performance. This article proposes a more innovative mechanism for assessing SHP performance.
Keywords: social health protection; legal coverage; legal framework
Key Messages
SHP performance is traditionally defined by the degree of population coverage as prescribed under the legal mandate. However, the approach is criticized for providing limited insight on the effectiveness on access and quality of care.
Achieving universal social health protection is a widely accepted objective, but the lack of a globally agreed upon performance measurement and variations in definition of SHP implicates global comparison of SHP and offers little practical guidance.
Utilizing legal coverage as an indicator does not provide an informative measurement of SHP and would require the indicator’s integration with a legal framework to provide meaningful information that is supportive to effective coverage and financial protection.
Recommendations/Main Conclusions
Suggests conceptualizing coverage in a way that informs policy dialogue on a broader spectrum of relevant dimensions and allows meaningful international comparisons.
Suggests the development of several indicators to capture the various dimensions of SHP and interpret the results in an analytical framework that allows global comparisons of countries with similar issues in coverage and access.
Suggests measuring social health protection based on the effective access to health services.
Citation Information
Source Type: Journal Article
Author(s): Xenia Scheil-Adlung; Florence Bonnet
Journal: International Social Security Review
Volume: 64
Pages: 21-38