China's debate on health care reform, 2005-09
Document Type
Journal article
Source Publication
Journal of Contemporary Asia
Publication Date
5-1-2011
Volume
41
Issue
2
First Page
315
Last Page
323
Publisher
Routledge
Abstract
This commentary critically discusses China’s debate on health care reform during 2005-09 and analyses the politics involved. It examines a key point of contention – the financing of the health sector – given that the contention has been permeated with politics (who gets what, how and when) and that financing has an extremely critical impact on the performance of a health system. The debate on health care financing reflects two major changes brought by health care privatisation since the late 1980s, namely the changed incentives and behaviour of public hospitals and physicians, and the growing problem of effective management of the health workforces by the government. The commentary is organised as follows. First, it reviews the background of health care reform. Secondly, it studies the debate on how the government should finance the health sector. The third section discusses the changed incentives and behaviour of public hospitals and physicians and the growing problem of effective management of the health workforces and highlights how these two developments hinder health care reform. The final part concludes.
DOI
10.1080/00472336.2011.553049
Print ISSN
00472336
E-ISSN
17527554
Publisher Statement
Copyright © 2011 Journal of Contemporary Asia
Access to external full text or publisher's version may require subscription.
Full-text Version
Publisher’s Version
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Tam, W. (2011). China's debate on health care reform, 2005-09. Journal of Contemporary Asia, 41(2), 315-323. doi: 10.1080/00472336.2011.553049