Advancing Universal Health Coverage : What Developing Countries Can Learn from the Israeli Experience?
The Israeli health system provides universal coverage of a broad benefits package in a highly efficient manner. At the same time, the Israeli health system faces significant challenges, including lack of universal coverage for long-term care and ad...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2018
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/283371516184571317/Advancing-universal-health-coverage-what-developing-countries-can-learn-from-the-Israeli-experience http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29176 |
| Summary: | The Israeli health system provides
universal coverage of a broad benefits package in a highly
efficient manner. At the same time, the Israeli health
system faces significant challenges, including lack of
universal coverage for long-term care and adult dental care,
center-periphery gaps, insufficient care integration, long
waiting times for some elective procedures, and a growing
private health care sector that poses several threats to the
public system, cost containment, and health system equity.
The Israeli health care system has benefited greatly from
its capacity to identify relevant innovations in other
countries and adapt them to Israel. At the same time, the
Israeli experience can be a source of lessons for other
countries. Aspects of the Israeli system that might be
particularly relevant to middle-income countries include
health plan competition in a clear and simple institutional
environment, the reliance on health plans such as managed
care and patient-centered organizations, the emphasis on
primary care, and the investment in e-health. The manner in
which Israel is grappling with its growing private sector
can be a source of strategies middle-income countries could
consider, and a source of strategies they should avoid. |
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