Health Financing Options for Samoa : Challenges and Opportunities
Samoa currently faces two important public policy challenges in the health sector. One is to stem, and then reverse, the rapid rise of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The second challenge is to put the country on a health-financing path that is e...
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| Language: | English en_US |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2014
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/09/19798090/health-financing-options-samoa-challenges-opportunities http://hdl.handle.net/10986/20124 |
| Summary: | Samoa currently faces two important
public policy challenges in the health sector. One is to
stem, and then reverse, the rapid rise of non-communicable
diseases (NCDs). The second challenge is to put the country
on a health-financing path that is effective, efficient, and
financially affordable and sustainable. The two challenges
are interconnected. This discussion paper examines eight
options to address these challenges. The eight options are
the following: (1) increasing government expenditure via
higher general taxation; (2) increasing government
expenditure via deficit financing; (3) increasing the share
of government expenditure to health; (4) increasing external
and donor financing; (5) increasing specific taxes; (6)
mobilizing additional nongovernment resources via insurance
(including social health insurance, and community and
private insurance); (7) increasing cost-recovery measures;
and (8) increasing efficiency. The paper concludes that the
chief opportunity arises from more efficient use of
resources already in the health system that are not
presently used to maximum effect. Improving technical and
allocative efficiency of the existing system has the
potential to make a large difference and is technically feasible. |
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