Health Policy In A Time Of Crisis

Health Policy in a Time of Crisis is a vivid ethnographic account of women and providers navigating the Catalan health system to obtain and provide publicly funded abortion care. Grounded in critical medical anthropology, the book situates access to publicly funded abortion care in the context of austerity and ongoing threats to recently liberalized laws, examining the actual levels of access in the region. In so doing, it examines the disparities experienced by immigrant and other women, documenting the diverse approaches adopted to overcome obstacles to care. Using accounts from both providers and women seeking care, Ostrach’s richly grounded analysis illuminates a healthcare system during a period of economic crisis and disagreement over reproductive governance. Researched against a backdrop of growing movements against austerity and for Catalan independence, the result is at once a study of true access to public health care in times of crisis and a compelling account of some women’s determination to go to any length to get the health care they need. Engagingly written, it will make interesting reading for scholars and students of anthropology and public health, as well as policymakers and the general reader concerned with the politics of abortion and public health.

Health policy in times of crisis is one of the topics of Health Policy Developments 13 exploring the challenge the crisis has posed to health systems, but also asking whether it has provided an opportunity for reform. While some countries like Estonia drastically reduced their healthcare budgets, others, such as Austria and the United States, have responded with plans to boost public expenditure. Can the crisis provide a window of opportunity for reform? In spite of the global financial crisis, for many, confidence in market mechanisms seems not to have been shaken. One of the key assumptions of contemporary health policy debate remains: more competition will help produce systems where resources are used more efficiently. However, as governments seek to enhance market mechanisms in health systems, successful regulation is needed to facilitate those changes and avoid unintended consequences. To assess the effects of competition and regulation, as well as other reform approaches, systematic analysis is needed. Health policy evaluation, therefore, is another focus of this issue of Health Policy Developments, as well as hospital care and its coordination with other sectors, prevention and health inequalities. The International Network Health Policy and Reform aims to narrow the gap between health services research and health policy. Network partners are research institutions and health policy experts from 20 industrialized countries.

The Fifth Edition of this best-selling health policy text is updated with a collection of new articles on various health policies. Health Policy provides a basic overview of the health policy and political process as it relates to thte health status of the US, the organization and issues of the healthcare system, and healthcare economics.

Health policy in times of crisis is one of the topics of Health Policy Developments 13 exploring the challenge the crisis has posed to health systems, but also asking whether it has provided an opportunity for reform. While some countries like Estonia drastically reduced their healthcare budgets with plans to boost public expenditure. Can the crisis provide a window of opportunity for reform? In spite of the global financial crisis, for many, confidence in market mechanisms seems not to have been shaken. One of the key assumptions of contemporary health policy debate remains: more competition will help produce systems where resources are used more efficiently. However, as governments seek to enhance market mechanisms in health systems, successful regulation is needed to facilitate those changes and avoid unintended consequences. To assess the effects of competition and regulation, as well as other reform approaches, systematic analysis is needed. Health policy evaluation, therefore, is another focus of this issue of Health Policy Developments, as well as hospital care and its coordination with other sectors, prevention and health inequalities. The International Networks Health Policy and Reform aims to narrow the gap between health services research and health policy. Networks partners are research institutions and health policy experts from 20 industrialized countries. Book jacket.

A much-needed and hard-hitting plan, from one of the great Democratic minds of our time, to reform America's broken health-care system. Undoubtedly, the biggest domestic policy issue in the coming years will be America's health-care system. Millions of Americans go without medical care because they can't afford it, and many others are mired in debt because they can't pay their medical bills. It's hard to think of another public policy problem that has lingered unaddressed for so long. Why have we failed to solve a problem that is such a high priority for so many citizens? Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle believes the problem is rooted in the complexity of the health-care issue and the power of the interest groups—doctors, hospitals, insurers, drug companies, researchers, patient advocates—that have a direct stake in it. Rather than simply pointing out the major flaws and placing blame, Daschle offers key solutions and creates a blueprint for solving the crisis. Daschle's solution lies in the Federal Reserve Board, which has overseen the equally complicated financial system with great success. A Fed-like health board would offer a public framework within which a private health-care system can operate more effectively and efficiently—insulated from political pressure yet accountable to elected officials and the American people. Daschle argues that this independent board would create a single standard of care and exert tremendous influence on every other provider and payer, even those in the private sector. After decades of failed incremental measures, the American health-care system remains fundamentally broken and requires a comprehensive fix. With his bold and forward-looking plan, Daschle points us to the solution.

Economic shocks pose a threat to health and health system performance by increasing people’s need for health care and making access to care more difficult – a situation compounded by cuts in public spending on health and other social services. But these negative effects can be avoided by timely public policy action. While important public policy levers lie outside the health sector, in the hands of those responsible for fiscal policy and social protection, the health system response is critical. This book looks at how health systems in Europe reacted to pressure created by the financial and economic crisis that began in 2008. Drawing on the experience of over 45 countries, the authors:  analyse health system responses to the crisis in three policy areas: public funding for the health system; health coverage; and health service planning, purchasing and delivery assess the impact of these responses on health systems and population health identify policies most likely to sustain the performance of health systems facing financial pressure explore the political economy of implementing reforms in a crisis The book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the choices available to policy-makers - and the implications of failing to protect health and health-system performance - in the face of economic and other forms of shock.

Economic shocks pose a threat to health and health system performance by increasing people's need for health care and making access to care more difficult - a situation compounded by cuts in public spending on health and other social services. But these negative effects can be avoided by timely public policy action. While important public policy levers lie outside the health sector, in the hands of those responsible for fiscal policy and social protection, the health system response is critical. This book looks at how health systems in Europe reacted to pressure created by the financial and economic crisis that began in 2008. Drawing on the experience of over 45 countries, the authors:' analyse health system responses to the crisis in three policy areas: public funding for the health system; health coverage; and health service planning, purchasing and delivery 'assess the impact of these responses on health systems and population health' identify policies most likely to sustain the performance of health systems facing financial pressure' explore the political economy of implementing reforms in a crisisThe book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the choices available to policy-makers - and the implications of failing to protect health and health-system performance - in the face of economic and other forms of shock.--

Scientific Essay from the year 2016 in the subject Health - Public Health, grade: 27/30, UniNettuno University, language: English, abstract: This paper deals with challenges faced by local health managers in times of economic crisis, since almost nothing in our modern healthcare system is preserved from both immediate and long term effects of economic oscillations. The healthcare becomes more and more subject to higher technologies with a growing number of private, well organized and benefit-oriented hospitals. Researchers found that approximately 50% of health improvements were due to access to better technology, whereas remaining gains resulted from income improvements and better education. Healthcare is actually referenced to as one of the most complex, costly and challenged sector of our contemporary societies. Just as health conditions at any time improve with income level, so too, might adverse income shocks have detrimental effects on health. Economic downturns have been linked to increased morbidity and mortality, and to poor nutrition and mental health. The recent economic crisis through the increasing socioeconomic disparities and difficulties such as unemployment, extreme poverty, homelessness, stigma, discrimination and social isolation and through the budgetary constraints and poor policies for financing prevention and treatment, have been translated to heightened risk behaviors on the individual level and impaired public health response on the population level. The negative impacts can also be observed at the societal level, as all sensitive social indicators have been distorted. In European countries, the late 2000's economic crisis laid to a consistent tendency of European governments to diminish the spending on healthcare. This have led to considerable decrease in the number of people accessing healthcare as in countries with weak health insurance policy people had to use money from their pocket. The economic crisis provokes certainly the need for multifactorial adjustments at all health managerial levels. To powerfully address this issue health managers should have clear understanding of the impacts of economic crisis on their ability to maintain and promote an adequate healthcare provision. The present paper will discuss indeed, the main challenges that a health services manager can face regarding the impact of an economic crisis to a local society.