The Impact of National Health Insurance on South Africa

Introduction

The aim of a country towards the health care and wellness of people is a great start for the development. A healthy economy has healthy people. And most of the well-developed countries have the strong attributes. The continuous efforts of the economy to achieve the health and wellness for their people have the started in the thrust of the health sectors in the progress of a definite program where every people will receive the effectiveness of their program. 

Background of the Study and Problem Statement

There are many works that manages to describe the different applications, approaches, and anticipated outcomes of the health insurance. Different interaction and collaboration of the knowledge and skills of the health care providers and technology is innovatively created to achieve the same purpose - to deliver the health and wellness in the people. However, South Africa has an ongoing debate with regards to the National Health Insurance, its policies and the people that will realize its benefits. And as the main topic of the study, what are the impacts of the National Health Insurance to its people. 

Research Objectives

The first objective of the study is to deliver the common impacts of the National Health Insurance on South Africa. Second objective is to address the assumed problems involved in the health insurance such as the medical schemes and the environment. And the third objective is to promote the health and wellness of people through the health care funding.

Research Questions

The study recognized the importance of the study in the achievement of the National Health Insurance in South Africa and therefore, it created several questions.

1.      What are the programs involved in the implementation of the National Health Insurance?

2.      What are the objectives in promoting such initiative?

3.      What are the anticipated outcomes of the people that will acquire the National Health Insurance?

Literature Review

The National Health Insurance is the common term that was frequently used especially with reference to a system that is universal, or covers the entire population irrespective of whether they have personally contributed to the scheme or not. As the terms social and national health insurance are often used inter-changeably and sometimes create confusion, the more inclusive term mandatory insurance is used here. In the introduction of the national health insurance in South Africa, a great debate emerging in the health care as much on it services. . Despite a range of policy proposals being put forward to pursue this option for financing health care services, no real progress has been made in achieving policy agreement or in getting close to implementing a mandatory health insurance system. One possible contributory factor for this lack of progress is that mandatory health insurance is perceived to be a complex reform and the use of complicated terminology in debates has limited the degree of constructive engagement between key stakeholders and the extent to which consensus could be achieved. For this reason, the objective of this chapter is to clarify some of the key health insurance concepts and to demystify the mandatory health insurance debates. The National Health Insurance encompasses the idea of healthcare which is also referred to the term of medicine or to the health sector and the treatment and prevention of illness and disease. Meanwhile, there is a branch of economics that is concerned with the health; issues related to scarcity in the allocation of health care. Health economists study the functioning of the health care system and the private and social causes of health-affecting behavior such as smoking.

Methodology

The applied method of the study is the use of the comparative case study which allows the study to compare, review and generate its own analysis and come up with a valuable conclusion. Through the applied knowledge from the previous works, the study can commit itself in the promoting its objectives.

Analysis

There is a need to assure the health of every individual is great especially when it is available and offered. Health care refers to the treatment and management of illness, and the preservation of health through services offered by the medical, dental, pharmaceutical, clinical laboratory sciences, nursing, and allied health professions. Health care embraces all the goods and services designed to promote health, including preventive, curative and palliative interventions, whether directed to individuals or to populations.

Conclusion

The National aim of South Africa in terms of the Health Insurance should start in the alignment of the policies and the other related specifications. Through that, success is not impossible especially in the less developed countries.

References:

Blair, B., & Travis, K., 2001. Improving Access to Health Care: Patient Selection, Prospective Payments, and Carve-Outs. [Online] Available at: http://www.econ.washington.edu/user/barzelconference/Papers/Travis.PDF [Accessed 15 Feb 2010].

Cardon, J., (2001). Possibility or Utopia? Consumer Choice in Health Care: A Literature Review. Asymmetric information in health insurance: evidence from the National Medical Expenditure Survey. Journal of Economics. [Online] Available at: http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/2005/RAND_TR105.pdf [Accessed 15 Feb 2010].

McIntyre, D., & van den Heever, A., 2007. Social or National Health Insurance. [Online] Available at: http://www.hst.org.za/uploads/files/chap5_07.pdf. [Accessed 15 Feb 2010].


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