政治体制对政府医疗卫生支出及健康产出的影响综述

大多数发展中国家的政府医疗卫生支出及健康产出长期处于较低水平,与发达国家有较大差距。这种差距并不能仅仅由经济因素解释,政府主导了卫生资源的分配,因此分析理性政府在公共资源分配中的激励问责机制尤为重要。本文分析了政治体制对政府提供医疗卫生服务的激励问责机制,综述了近年来有关政治体制影响政府医疗卫生支出及健康产出的实证研究。大量研究结果表明与非民主政治体制相比,民主政治体制在增加政府医疗卫生支出、提高健康产出方面有显著的积极作用。     

医药费用上涨的根源及其对策分析

该文从筹资、组织、支付、管制和行为5个环节上分析医药费用上涨的根源，提出了控制医药费用上涨的7点政策建议。     

1994年各省市自治区卫生总费用经济分析

为了评价各省市区运用筹资来源法测算的卫生总费用数据的可靠性,为进一步开发实际使用法做准备,中国卫生总费用课题组运用机构收入法测算了1994年各省市区的人均卫生费用、卫生费用占国内生产总值的比重、人均卫生事业费、按人口平均职工医疗卫生费、人均医疗总费用、医疗费用占卫生总费用的比重、各省市区城乡人均医疗费用水平及其差距、基本医疗服务的保障程度、上级补助占医疗机构收入的比重、住院费用占医疗总费用的比重、劳务费用占医疗总费用的比重、农民人均医疗消费水平与乡村医疗收费水平比较等指标,并进行了卫生总费用计量经济分析。     

Regional variation in health care utilization and mortality

Geographic variation in health care utilization has raised concerns of possible inefficiencies in health care supply, as differences are often not reflected in health outcomes. Using comprehensive Norwegian microdata, we exploit cross-region migration to analyze regional variation in health care utilization. Our results indicate that place factors account for half of the difference in utilization between high and low utilization regions, while the rest reflects patient demand. We further document heterogeneous impacts of place across socioeconomic groups. Place factors account for 75% of the regional utilization difference for high school dropouts, and 40% for high school graduates; for patients with a college degree, the impact of place is negligible. We find no statistically significant association between the estimated place effects and overall mortality. However, we document a negative association between place effects and utilization-intensive causes of death such as cancer, suggesting high-supply regions may achieve modestly improved health outcomes.     

人口老龄化进程中的医疗卫生支出:WHO成员国的经验分析

基于世界卫生组织(WHO)成员国的经验,本文探讨了人口老龄化进程中医疗卫生支出的基本特征和一般规律。研究表明:世界各国医疗卫生水平存在极大的不平衡。随着人口老龄化的加深,医疗卫生支出中政府支出比例趋于上升,而私人卫生支出比例趋于下降。医疗卫生支出占GDP的比例逐步提高,而政府卫生支出占政府总支出比例也趋于提高,人口老龄化进程中政府在医疗卫生支出中将承担更重要的责任。而且,在政府卫生支出中,医疗保障支出比例趋于提高,并将成为政府卫生支出越来越重要的部分。当一国进入老龄化社会后,医疗卫生支出速度将会递增,经济发展和政府财政将承受越来越重的医疗支出负担。"未富先老"的中国面临着医疗卫生支出急剧增长的严峻挑战,这应该成为医疗卫生体制改革关注的议题。     

Health care expenditure and income in Europe

In this work we have tried to analyse the variations in health care expenditure in all the countries of the European Community except Greece and Portugal. We have wanted to provide additional evidence on the empirical relationship between expenditure on health care and income. Our analysis, starting from the approach of Fuchs and Baumol, has been an extension of the traditional studies on health care international comparisons, in at least three directions: we have not imposed any restrictions on the price effects, we have analysed dynamic models instead of the cross-sectional analysis and we have used proper deflators. We have deflated health care expenditure in each country by means of its sectoral price index and by the purchasing parity power of its currency, to allow international comparisons. In the former case we express health care in terms of ‘expenditure’, in the latter we express health care in terms of ‘weighted quantity’. Income elasticities, in the short and in the long-run, have been estimated using econometric methods that allow us to obtain simultaneously equilibrium long-run relationships, if any, and adjustment processes in the short-run. We have found cointegrating relationships and we have estimated consistent estimators of the elasticities. The estimated income elasticities are greater than one in all the models analysed.     

美国医疗保障制度改革的先行者——马萨诸塞州医改综述

马萨诸塞州2006年医改被视为2010年奥巴马美国医改的原型和模板,研究马州医改进展和效果,有助于推断美国医改可能取得的成绩及问题.2006年马州医改主要通过以下方式扩大医疗保险覆盖范围,提高医疗服务可及性.一是增加政府投入,扩大面向低收入人群的马州医疗援助计划覆盖范围,新建资助中低收入人群参保的公民健康保障计划,从而提高中低收入人群的参保能力;二是新建医疗保险交易局管理新建计划,干预私营医疗保险市场,新建致力于医疗保险标准化、面向高收入人群的公民健康选择计划;三是强制个人参保,要求雇主为雇员提供保险.综合现有文献,马州医改已取得许多成就,但也存在一定问题.一方面,无保障人群数量不断缩小,居民医疗服务可及性提高,可负担性也有所改进;另一方面,医疗支出快速上升影响了改革的可持续性,制度设计的一些缺陷影响了部分人群的医疗服务可及性,同时安全网计划资金的消减也可能影响医改效果.我国可借鉴马州经验建立商业健康保险管制机构,促进我国商业健康保险市场发展;同时需准备面对全民医保覆盖后的医疗费用快速增长问题,还需警惕全面覆盖后的“参保却不享有”问题.     

Why U.S. health care expenditure and ranking on health care indicators are so different from Canada’s

Compared to other industrialized countries, the U.S. spends most of all on health care. Nonetheless, the U.S. ranks relatively low on health care indicators. This paradox has been already known for decades. For example, the turning point comparing the U.S. and Canada was in 1972. Health expenditure as a percentage of GDP was higher in Canada than in the USA from 1960 until 1972. Since 1972 expenditure on health care has been higher in the U.S. than in Canada (OECD 2005a, Health data 2005, fourteenth OECD electronic database on health systems, date of release June 2005, last update 04/26/2005). The present study integrates the dispersed literature on spending and health care rankings and adds some statistical analysis to these studies. The evaluation of different factors influencing health care expenditure in the U.S. relative to other countries is restricted to a comparison with Canada. The U.S. and Canada are two countries that are sufficiently similar to make comparisons useful. The comparison of factors influencing health care expenditure in the U.S. and Canada in 2002 reveals that health care expenditure in the U.S. is higher than in Canada mainly due to administration costs, Baumol’s cost disease and pharmaceutical prices. It is not primarily inefficiency in health care production but the dominant prevalence for free choice and own responsibility that explains the paradox of high expenditure on health care and low ranking on health care indicators.

以医疗费用有效控制为核心的医药卫生体制改革逻辑步骤

本文探讨了看病贵问题与医疗费用控制之间的关系,分析了医疗费用过快增长的制度性因素,提出了有效控制医疗费用过快增长的众多策略,综合各策略设计了以医疗费用有效控制为核心的医药卫生体制改革逻辑步骤和路线图,并且讨论了路线图中的难点和障碍。     

政府当前对公共卫生事业投入现状分析

目的:分析当前政府对公共卫生事业投入现状。方法:依据政府公共财政基本功能,与世界相关国家的政府投入现状比较,分析我国卫生事业费占财政支出比重状况及原因。结果:我国政府卫生投入状况不适应公共卫生发展需要。结论:政府财力相对匮乏,疾病谱改变使原有的经费更加紧张,应尽快解决这一状况。     

Poverty and private health expenditures in Italian households during the recent crisis

The global financial crisis that began in 2008 had an overall effect on the health behaviours of Italian households. Aggregate private health expenditures have decreased while the citizens have increasingly been asked to share health costs. The reduction of households’ health expenditure could have serious consequences for health, especially if it concerns the most vulnerable people. The aim of this paper is to analyse the relation between poverty and household health expenditure, considering regional and social group variations. The data used stem from the “Family Expenditure Survey” collected by the Italian Statistical Institute (ISTAT) from 1997 to 2013.Results of multivariate analysis controlling for potential socio-demographic confounders show that the propensity to spend for poor families is decreased in the last years compared to not poor households. Meanwhile, among the households who spend, the average expenditure in euro seems to have been more stable over time.This is an alarming signal for the health of the most vulnerable households. These conditions could result in a gradual deterioration of health in poor families, which is likely to increase the burden on health systems in future. Hence, at this moment public intervention does not seem able to alleviate this situation.     

Health reform in Greece: planning and implementation of a national health system

The health system in Greece has for many years been in a state of continuous crisis. The basic aspects of this crisis involve: a fragmented administrative framework; low level of public expenditure; a significant private sector; inadequate hospitals; skewed manpower; and, a low level of primary care. In 1983, the National Health System (ESY) was established, as an effort to improve the above situation. This article presents the context of the ESY and the situation of the health system prior to and after the establishment of the ESY. The conclusion drawn is that many of the goals of the ESY have not been achieved or only partly achieved, and that a number of the above serious problems still persist.     

Improving Children's Access to Oral Health Services: The Oral Health Initiative

Although major improvements have been made in oral health during the 20th century, many children in minority groups, from families with low-income, and with special health care needs still do not receive the oral health services that they need. To address the problem, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), working with the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), has launched the Oral Health Initiative. The initiative seeks to strengthen oral health service-delivery systems, enhance collaboration among federal agencies, and provide states with the resources needed to improve the oral health of hard-to-reach children. HRSA's activities include enhancing programs, services, and training, such as expanding the number of direct-service dental programs; establishing or enhancing graduate training programs in pediatric and general dentistry and in dental public health; and funding training programs in dentistry to train dental public health leaders.     

THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGICAL INTENSITY OF SERVICE PROVISION ON PHYSICIAN EXPENDITURES: AN EXPLORATORY INVESTIGATION

Advances in technology and subsequent changes in clinical practice can lead to increases in healthcare costs. Our objective is to assess the impact that changes in the technological intensity of physician‐provided health services have had on the age pattern of both the volume of services provided and the average expenditures associated with them. We based our analysis on age‐sex‐specific patient‐level administrative records of diagnoses and treatments. These records include virtually all physician services provided in the province of Ontario, Canada in a 10‐year span ending in 2004 and their associated costs. An algorithm is developed to classify services and their costs into three levels of technological intensity. We find that while the overall age‐standardized level and cost of services per capita have decreased, the volume and cost of high technologically intensive treatments have increased, especially among older patients. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Pooling international health care expenditure data.

The purpose of this paper is twofold. The first is to analyse the statistical relationship between real health care expenditure per capita and aggregate income, public share in finance, age-dependency ratio and inflation. The second purpose deals with methodological problems involved in pooling health care expenditure data. The empirical work is based on pooled cross-sectional, time-series data for 22 OECD countries from 1972 to 1987. Public finance share and inflation were found to be associated with lower per capita health care expenditure. No consistent correlation was found between the age-dependency ratio and health care expenditure. Contrary to results of earlier studies, we found that health care expenditure does not appear to be income (GDP) elastic. However, the results do not appear to be robust to changes in the time periods and countries included.     

Comparison of Health Outcomes for Male Seniors in the Veterans Health Administration and Medicare Advantage Plans

Objectives. To compare the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) with the Medicare Advantage (MA) plans with regard to health outcomes. Data Sources. The Medicare Health Outcome Survey, the 1999 Large Health Survey of Veteran Enrollees, and the Ambulatory Care Survey of Healthcare Experiences of Patients (Fiscal Years 2002 and 2003). Study Design. A retrospective study. Extraction Methods. Men 65+ receiving care in MA (N=198,421) or in VHA (N=360,316). We compared the risk‐adjusted probability of being alive with the same or better physical (PCS) and mental (MCS) health at 2‐years follow‐up. We computed hazard ratio (HR) for 2‐year mortality. Principal Findings. Veterans had a higher adjusted probability of being alive with the same or better PCS compared with MA participants (VHA 69.2 versus MA 63.6 percent, p<.001). VHA patients had a higher adjusted probability than MA patients of being alive with the same or better MCS (76.1 versus 69.6 percent, p<.001). The HRs for mortality in the MA were higher than in the VHA (HR, 1.26 [95 percent CI 1.23–1.29]). Conclusions. Our findings indicate that the VHA has better patient outcomes than the private managed care plans in Medicare. The VHA's performance offers encouragement that the public sector can both finance and provide exemplary health care.     

The determinants of health care expenditure: testing pooling restrictions in small samples

Health care expenditure has increased substantially in all Western industrialized countries in the last decades. The necessity to contain the increase in health care expenditure has motivated the analysis of its determinants to explain differences across countries and health systems. However, recent studies have questioned the use of cross section data arguing that health systems are too different to allow for such comparisons. In this paper we investigate whether this criticism is really justified. We analyze the variations of health care expenditure in OECD countries relative to income, population aging and technological change. Our analysis is based on pooled cross section data and time series. Firstly, formulating error correction models for individual countries we demonstrate that in almost all cases the investigated variables are cointegrated. Secondly, we use a bootstrap framework for inference and examine whether the influence of explanatory variables is unique across countries. Applying recursive estimation procedures we find evidence for cross country homogeneity during the period 1961-1979. In the last two decades health care dynamics become more and more country specific thus indicating divergence of health systems and the growing importance of country-specific effects in the explanation of differences in health care expenditure.     

Unit root properties of OECD health care expenditure and GDP data

This note reconsiders the unit root properties of health care expenditure (HCE) and gross domestic product (GDP) for OECD countries. The time-series properties of this data set has been much discussed in the literature with contrasting results from the application of a range of test procedures. We use a recently developed test to examine the relationship between the two variables. The results in this paper confirm earlier findings that when the data are considered as a panel, there is strong evidence of unit roots in both GDP and HCE data.