TY  - JOUR
AU  - Glied,Sherry A.
TI  - Health Care Financing, Efficiency, and Equity
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 13881
PY  - 2008
Y2  - March 2008
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13881
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13881.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Sherry A. Glied
Mailman School of Public Health
Columbia University
Department of Health Policy and Management
600 West 168th Street, Room 610
New York, NY 10032
Tel: 212/305-0299
Fax: 212/305-3405
E-Mail: sag1@columbia.edu
AB  - This paper examines the efficiency and equity implications of alternative health care system financing strategies.  Using data across the OECD, I find that almost all financing choices are compatible with efficiency in the delivery of health care, and that there has been no consistent and systematic relationship between financing and cost containment.  Using data on expenditures and life expectancy by income quintile from the Canadian health care system, I find that universal, publicly-funded health insurance is modestly redistributive.  Putting $1 of tax funds into the public health insurance system effectively channels between $0.23 and $0.26 toward the lowest income quintile people, and about $0.50 to the bottom two income quintiles.  Finally, a review of the literature across the OECD suggests that the progressivity of financing of the health insurance system has limited implications for overall income inequality, particularly over time.
ER  -