The world has 4 key types of public health service models, will they solve India’s healthcare problem?
Even in developed countries with well-funded healthcare systems, hospitals have been stretched to breaking point. In poorer countries, where access to healthcare can be limited by poverty, a lack of infrastructure and geographical isolation, many families fear being left to fend for themselves when the virus strikes. There are four main types of public health service models in place around the world (excluding the system in the United States, where there is no single nationwide model and healthcare is paid for through private insurance or provided by the government to some groups). The following infographic summarizes the models outlined in detail below.
The Beveridge Model
In this system healthcare provision is funded by direct income tax deductions. The majority of hospitals are owned and operated by the government. Most healthcare staff including doctors and nurses are employed by the state. The UK’s National Health Service operates on this model. The model itself takes its name from the economist Sir William Beveridge, who mapped out the introduction of the UK’s welfare state and National Health Service in the years following the end of the Second World War. Spain, Cuba and New Zealand also operate this model of healthcare system.
The Bismarck model
The Bismarck model was created near the end of the 19th century by Otto von Bismarck as a more decentralized form of healthcare.
Within the Bismarck model, employers and employees are responsible for funding their health insurance system through “sickness funds” created by payroll deductions. Private insurance plans also cover every employed person, regardless of pre-existing conditions, and the plans aren’t profit-based.
Providers and hospitals are generally private, though insurers are public. In some instances, there is a single insurer (France, Korea). Other countries, like Germany and the Czech Republic, have multiple competing insurers. However, the government controls pricing, much like under the Beveridge model
The National Health Insurance Model
This model of public health service models takes in elements of the Beveridge and Bismarck models, to strike a balance between public and private health provision. Countries including Canada and South Korea operate the NHI Model.
In this system, the government is the single payer for all health services, which reflects the state’s role under the Beveridge Model. Under the NHI Model, funds are raised through a state-operated insurance scheme that every citizen pays into. The insurance programmed is not-for-profit and no claim is denied.
The out-of-pocket model
The out-of-pocket model is the most common model in less-developed areas and countries where there aren’t enough financial resources to create a medical system like the three models above.
In this model, patients must pay for their procedures out of pocket. The reality is that the wealthy get professional medical care and the poor don’t, unless they can somehow come up with enough money to pay for it. Healthcare is still driven by income.
