HOT OFF THE PRESS
To celebrate international UHC Day on 12 December, GNHE has just published a policy brief on how to improve the measurement of financial risk protection.
This is a companion piece to a similar brief on improving the measurement of health care use (available here).
If you want to read the full financial risk protection brief, click here.
The key messages of the financial risk protection brief are:
- A key element of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is financial risk protection (FRP) for all
- Equitable financial protection means that everyone, irrespective of their level of income, is free from financial hardship caused by using needed health services
- FRP must be measured alongside, and in addition to, the other dimension of UHC, which is access to needed health services: this is because UHC can only be achieved when both dimensions are addressed
- Assessment of FRP should go beyond the conventional measures of financial catastrophe and impoverishment from out-of-pocket spending, because these under-estimate the level of financial risk
- Measurement should seek to be inclusive and comprehensive, covering the whole population (both those who use health services and those who are unable to afford the use of health services when needed)
- If the traditional measures are used, they should be interpreted accordingly – as simply the proportion of the population who use health services and are consequently impoverished or face financial catastrophe