any states are struggling to ensure that all children receive adequate health care. States often face challenges in attracting plans to deliver high-quality health care to children. Some plans are reluctant to serve children in state-sponsored programs because of the perceived financial risk of serving children, particularly those with special health care needs who are disproportionately repres...

BACKGROUND Public health leaders lack evidence for making decisions about the optimal allocation of resources across local health department (LHD) services, even as limited funding has forced cuts to public health services while local needs grow. A lack of data has also limited examination of the outcomes of targeted LHD investments in specific service areas. PURPOSE This study used unique, d...

BACKGROUND An understanding of public financial flows to reproductive health (RH) at the country level is key to assessing the extent to which they correspond to political commitments. This is especially relevant for low-income countries facing important challenges in the area of RH. To this end, the present study analyzes public expenditure levels and trends with regards to RH in Burundi betwe...

background : health policy makers are concerned about protecting people from catastrophic health expenditures and subsequent impoverishment. this study aimed to describe the magnitude and distribution of catastrophic health expenditures in kermanshah western iran. methods : in this descriptive study, during may 2008, 189 households were chosen by “systematic random sampling” among the commu...

In India, despite improvements in access to health care, inequalities are related to socioeconomic status, geography, and gender, and are compounded by high out-of-pocket expenditures, with more than three-quarters of the increasing fi nancial burden of health care being met by households. Health-care expenditures exacerbate poverty, with about 39 million additional people falling into poverty ...

On this 35th anniversary of the enactment of Medicaid, it is important to reflect on the program's role in the U.S. health care system. The Medicaid program is the third largest source of health insurance in the United States-after employer-based coverage and Medicare. The significance of Medicaid's role in providing health insurance cannot be overstated. As the largest in the Federal safety ne...

1 Health and Human Development Division, Pan American Health Organization, Washington, D.C., United States of America. Send correspondence to: Rubén M. Suárez-Berenguela, Pan American Health Organization, Health and Human Development Division, 525 23rd Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20037-2895, United States of America; telephone: (202) 974-3482; fax: (202) 974-3675; e-mail: suarezru@ paho.org ...

Private hospitals are an essential component of Australia's complex mix of public and private health funding and provision. Private hospitals account for 34.3 per cent of all hospital separations, and over half (56.2%) of all same-day separations. The revenue (funding) of the sector approached $4 billion by 1998/99, and as a result of its recent rapid growth capital expenditure in the sector wa...