Since the beginning of 2014 to the end of April the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MOHSW) and the Health Financing Strategy (HFS) Inter-ministerial Steering Committee (ISC) in Tanzania have been conducting regional stakeholder consultations (including consultations with parliamentarians) on 3 different Social Health Insurance options discussed and evaluated for Tanzania (HFS Workshop_3 Options Comparison Table_Dec 7 2013). These consultations provided feedback to the ISC on the different concerns of stakeholders and helped them select one preferred SHI model to pursue with the Health Financing Strategy.
Some of the key recommendations of the ISC for the Strategy formulation included:
– Opt for a Single Payer System compulsory for the whole population, with private health insurances offering doublicative or supplementary health insurance (no opting out option of the single social health insurance fund)
– Have a Minimum benefit package entitlement for all, offered through the SHI
– Access to the MBP by the poor will need substantial government subsidies
– Identification mechanisms of the poor have to be put in place and implemented as part of the strategy
– Create tax levies earmarked for SHI (e.g. from pension funds, car insurance, private insurance etc.)
– Enable certain autonomy of public providers and create a certain level of competition between them and private providers to enhance service quality
– Create consumer protection mechanisms as integrated part of the Single SHI System
– Ensure a strong regulatory mechanisms are in place for the SHI
– Integrate the current work on the RBF system into the HFS
etc.
With these and some more detailed recommendations in mind, a MOHSW internal team was tasked to work on the development of a 0-Draft of the Health Financing Strategy in mid-May 2014. The 0-Draft is currently reviewed within the management of the MOHSW before being shared with a wider stakeholder group.
A second HFS writing workshop under inclusion of key national stakeholders and DPs/ P4H partners is envisaged for July/ August this year under guidance of an international HF expert, likely provided by WHO.
