Recent issues of the Romanian health financing system

The aim of the paper is to examine the health financing reform in Romania in order to find out to what extent the expected results were achieved, what were the main factors that influenced the reform process and in what way the main unsolved problems are to be sorted out. The paper describes the main features of the health financing reform outlining the factors that determined or influenced it, presents some of the reform outcomes and discusses the current health policy agenda. The main findings of this examination are the following: the expected results of the health care reform were not fully achieved (one of the main causes was the too high expectations that did not take into account the country’s low starting point at the beginning of the transition); the reform process was slowed down mainly by political instability, the funds for health increased over time, but this was not enough to increase health system performance and patient satisfaction, the health system reform finally became one of the main priorities on the government agenda. The paper concludes that it took quite a long time until the Romanian government took over its stewardship role of the health system, with the understanding that health reform cannot be a separate process but rather is in need of intersectorial action, clear and coherent legislative support and strong political backing.