BACKGROUND

It can be argued that having a health care financing system with integrated institutional arrangements and payment systems would be critical to providing equitable, efficient, and effective health care for all. Specifically it is important to have a system that seeks to balance resource allocation with the relative costs of providing care to the various population groups in a given country. This calls for approaches such as rationing of the health care in which policies are used in planning and restrictively allocating scare resources. Rationing can be viewed through an efficiency lens (which is mainly based on price system) or through an equity lens (which is mainly based on non-price systems) and it can be done implicitly in which access is limited although the bases for limiting access are not clearly stated or explicitly in which access to care is limited and the grounds for exclusion are clearly stated. But both approaches of rationing have their own advantages and disadvantages.

QUESTION:

What are the main advantages and disadvantages of explicit rationing?(550 words excluding references).

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Include correct in-text citations and a Reference List (both in the Harvard style).

• All sources must be scholarly and fully referenced (indicate the URL of sources where available).

• I request for plagiarism report.

• Use real life examples where applicable. The instructions for this assignment must be strictly adhered to Required Resources

• Morris, S., Devlin, N. & Parkin, D. (2012) ‘Chapter 6: Health insurance and health care financing’. In: Economic analysis in health care. 2nd Chichester, England: John Wiley & Sons, pp. 133-162.

• Hsiao, W.C. (2007) ‘Why is a systemic view of health financing necessary?’ Health Affairs, 26 (4), pp. 950-961 [Online]. Available from: http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/login.aspx? direct=true&db=a9h&AN=25809985&site=ehost-live&scope=site(Accessed: 18 August 2010).

• Iqbal, Z., Pryce, A. & Afza, M. (2006) ‘Rationalizing rationing in health care: experience of two primary care trusts’, Journal of Public Health, 28 (2), pp. 125-132 [Online]. Available from: http://jpubhealth.oxfordjournals.org.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/cgi/content/abstract/28/2/125 (Accessed: 18 August 2010)

• Mitton, C. & Donaldson, C. (2004) ‘Health care priority setting: principles, practice and challenges’, Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation, 2, 3 [Online]. Available from: http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/login.aspx? direct=true&db=a9h&AN=28742425&site=ehost-live&scope=site (Accessed: 18 August 2010).

• National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence [Online]. (n.d.) Available from: http://www.nice.org.uk/ (Accessed: 23 February 2010). Supplemental Resources

• Carrin, G. (2002) ‘Social health insurance in developing countries: a continuing challenge’, International Social Security Review, 55 (2), pp. 57-69 [Online]. Available from: http://ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/login?url=http://openurl.ac.uk.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/?title=What+is…? &volume=5&issue=1&spage=&date=2003 (Accessed: 18 March 2014).

• Ekman, B. (2004) ‘Community-based health insurance in low-income countries: a systematic review of the evidence’, Health Policy and Planning, 19 (5), pp. 249-270 [Online]. Available from: http://ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/login?url=http://openurl.ac.uk.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/?title=What+is…? &volume=5&issue=1&spage=&date=2003 (Accessed: 18 March 2014).

• Mossialos, E., Dixon, A., Figueras, J. & Kutzin, J. (eds.) (2002) Funding health care: options for Europe. European Observatory on Health Systems Series No. 4, Berkshire, U.K., Open University Press [Online]. Available from: http://www.euro.who.int/document/e74485.pdf (Accessed: 23 February 2010).

• Sekhri, N. & Savedoff, W. (2005) ‘Private health insurance: implications for developing countries’, Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 83 (2), pp. 127-134 [Online]. Available from: http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/login.aspx? direct=true&db=mnh&AN=15744405&site=ehost-live&scope=site (Accessed: 18 August 2010).

• Brambleby, P. & Fordham, R. (2003) ‘What is PBMA?’, What Is…?, 4 (2), Hayward Medical Communications [Online]. Available from: http://www.medicine.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/painres/download/whatis/pbma.pdf (Accessed: 10 March 2010).

• Brambleby, P. & Fordham, R. (2003) ‘Implementing PBMA’, What Is…?, 4 (3), Hayward Medical Communications [Online]. Available from: http://www.medicine.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/painres/download/whatis/pbmaimp.pdf (Accessed: 10 March 2010)