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World Bank President Jim Yong Kim on Tuesday said user charges on healthcare to poor, no matter how tiny, were “unjust and unnecessary”, and voted for cash transfers instead.
Addressing the World Health Assembly in Geneva on ‘Poverty, Health and the Human Future’, the World Bank President called upon countries to go for universal health coverage by introducing “equitable models of health financing along with social protection measures such as cash transfers for vulnerable households.”
On user charges, he said: “anyone who has provided healthcare to poor people knows that even tiny out-of-pocket charges can drastically reduce their use of needed services. …Countries can replace point-of-service fees with a variety of forms of sustainable financing that don’t risk putting poor people in this potentially fatal bind.”
Universal health coverage
The World Bank chief’s comments are significant at a time when India is planning to roll out universal health coverage by 2020. However, the allocation for health has gone up by a mere 8.2 per cent this year, according to one estimate.
At present, India has a health insurance scheme for the poor for which Rs 30 per person is charged a year for expenses up to Rs 30,000.
Poverty eradication
The World Bank President said to end poverty and boost shared prosperity, two areas need to be tackled. First, no family, anywhere in the world, should be forced into poverty because of healthcare expenses. Second, the gap in access to health services and public health protection for the poorest 40 per cent of the population in every country needs to be closed.
He assured World Bank support to countries in their drive towards universal health coverage in ways such as ramping up analytic work and support countries to reach the Millennium Development Goals on maternal and child mortality.
“Reaching these two MDGs is a critical test of our commitment to health equity,” he added.
He said every country in the world can improve the performance of its health system in the three dimensions of universal coverage: access, quality, and affordability.
He cited Turkey’s “Health Transformation Program” in 2003 to provide access to affordable, quality health services for all.
“Formal health insurance now covers more than 95 per cent of the population. The health reform is one of a bundle of factors that have contributed to Turkey’s health gains. Between 2003 and 2010, Turkey cut its infant mortality rate by more than 40 per cent,” he added.
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