Dominican Republic : Implementing a Health Protection System that Leaves No One Behind

During the last 50 years, the Dominican Republic has experienced important economic growth, with rates higher than most Latin American countries. However, despite the substantial reduction in poverty and indigence in recent years, average wages wit...

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Main Author: Rathe, Magdalena
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/420311516172975669/Dominican-Republic-Implementing-a-health-protection-system-that-leaves-no-one-behind
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29182
id okr-10986-29182
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-291822021-05-25T09:10:03Z Dominican Republic : Implementing a Health Protection System that Leaves No One Behind Rathe, Magdalena UNIVERSAL HEALTH COVERAGE HEALTH FINANCE HEALTH SYSTEM REFORM BENEFITS PACKAGE SUBSIDIES QUALITY HEALTHCARE UNICO UHC During the last 50 years, the Dominican Republic has experienced important economic growth, with rates higher than most Latin American countries. However, despite the substantial reduction in poverty and indigence in recent years, average wages within the formal sector remain extremely low, and a large proportion of the working-age population is outside the formal sector. The country introduced a structural health reform in 2001, which has been successful in affiliating 70 percent of the population to the Family Health Insurance, with a complete package of services with the same content for all, although with different forms of financing and provision of services. However, the public service network, which is legally in charge of providing care to the lower-income population, lagged in its restructuring process, with serious problems of quality, efficiency, and governance. Thus, although many of the coverage goals have been achieved, population health outcome indicators remain well behind most countries in the Latin America region. Another key aspect of the pending agenda to achieve greater health and financial protection within social insurance is the in-depth revision of the Basic Health Plan (Plan Básico de Salud). This revision’s objective would be built on guaranteed coverage of certain health conditions considered to be priorities, including the restructuring of the health care model to introduce rationality, control costs, reduce or eliminate funding differences between the Contributory Regime (Regimen Contributivo) and Subsidized Regime (Régimen Subsidiado), and increase public funding for the Subsidized Regime. It is necessary to ensure that the benefits provided in the Basic Health Plan are delivered; that is, that the services required by the population are effectively covered, which will also reduce out-of-pocket spending. It is necessary to monitor the financial situation of all entities of the health system and to continue strengthening institutional capacity to carry out the financial and technical audits of health providers. The permanent monitoring of the financial sustainability of the Family Health Insurance Subsidized Regime and the Basic Health Plan is fundamental, while a systematic analysis of the fiscal space is carried out. 2018-01-18T20:24:46Z 2018-01-18T20:24:46Z 2018-01 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/420311516172975669/Dominican-Republic-Implementing-a-health-protection-system-that-leaves-no-one-behind http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29182 English Universal Health Coverage Studies Series;No. 30 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Working Paper Latin America & Caribbean Dominican Republic
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic UNIVERSAL HEALTH COVERAGE
HEALTH FINANCE
HEALTH SYSTEM REFORM
BENEFITS PACKAGE
SUBSIDIES
QUALITY HEALTHCARE
UNICO
UHC
spellingShingle UNIVERSAL HEALTH COVERAGE
HEALTH FINANCE
HEALTH SYSTEM REFORM
BENEFITS PACKAGE
SUBSIDIES
QUALITY HEALTHCARE
UNICO
UHC
Rathe, Magdalena
Dominican Republic : Implementing a Health Protection System that Leaves No One Behind
geographic_facet Latin America & Caribbean
Dominican Republic
relation Universal Health Coverage Studies Series;No. 30
description During the last 50 years, the Dominican Republic has experienced important economic growth, with rates higher than most Latin American countries. However, despite the substantial reduction in poverty and indigence in recent years, average wages within the formal sector remain extremely low, and a large proportion of the working-age population is outside the formal sector. The country introduced a structural health reform in 2001, which has been successful in affiliating 70 percent of the population to the Family Health Insurance, with a complete package of services with the same content for all, although with different forms of financing and provision of services. However, the public service network, which is legally in charge of providing care to the lower-income population, lagged in its restructuring process, with serious problems of quality, efficiency, and governance. Thus, although many of the coverage goals have been achieved, population health outcome indicators remain well behind most countries in the Latin America region. Another key aspect of the pending agenda to achieve greater health and financial protection within social insurance is the in-depth revision of the Basic Health Plan (Plan Básico de Salud). This revision’s objective would be built on guaranteed coverage of certain health conditions considered to be priorities, including the restructuring of the health care model to introduce rationality, control costs, reduce or eliminate funding differences between the Contributory Regime (Regimen Contributivo) and Subsidized Regime (Régimen Subsidiado), and increase public funding for the Subsidized Regime. It is necessary to ensure that the benefits provided in the Basic Health Plan are delivered; that is, that the services required by the population are effectively covered, which will also reduce out-of-pocket spending. It is necessary to monitor the financial situation of all entities of the health system and to continue strengthening institutional capacity to carry out the financial and technical audits of health providers. The permanent monitoring of the financial sustainability of the Family Health Insurance Subsidized Regime and the Basic Health Plan is fundamental, while a systematic analysis of the fiscal space is carried out.
format Working Paper
author Rathe, Magdalena
author_facet Rathe, Magdalena
author_sort Rathe, Magdalena
title Dominican Republic : Implementing a Health Protection System that Leaves No One Behind
title_short Dominican Republic : Implementing a Health Protection System that Leaves No One Behind
title_full Dominican Republic : Implementing a Health Protection System that Leaves No One Behind
title_fullStr Dominican Republic : Implementing a Health Protection System that Leaves No One Behind
title_full_unstemmed Dominican Republic : Implementing a Health Protection System that Leaves No One Behind
title_sort dominican republic : implementing a health protection system that leaves no one behind
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2018
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/420311516172975669/Dominican-Republic-Implementing-a-health-protection-system-that-leaves-no-one-behind
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29182
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