For and against: Social insurance---the right way forward for health care in the United Kingdom? * For * Against

doi:10.1136/bmj.325.7362.488

BMJ 2002;325:488-490 ( 31 August )

Education and debate

For and against

Social insurance $---$ the right way forward for health care in the United Kingdom?

For

Against

Social insurance $---$ the right way forward for health care in the United Kingdom?

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The NHS in the United Kingdom is struggling to meet the needs of patients as costs continue to rise. Does the current systemof funding need to change? David G Green and Benedict Irvine arguefor a system based on social insurance, while Martin McKee andcolleagues suggest that a tax based system is more equitable

Benedict Irvine, project manager, Civitas Health Unit, David G Green, director.

Civitas (Institute for the Study of Civil Society), Elizabeth House, London SE1 7NQ

Correspondence to: D G Green david.green@civil-society.org.uk

Comparing systems of funding healthcare is controversial. We suggest, however, that the following six questions should helpto put the controversy on an evidence based footing. We believethat the case for social insurance deserves a more serious hearingthan the British government has so far givenit.

Value for money $---$ Can individuals tell whether they are getting good value for money? It is impossible for taxpayers to makea well informed judgment about value for money because they haveno knowledge of the amount being paid nor any ability to varyit. Social . . . [Full text of this article]

CiteULike

Complore

Connotea

Del.icio.us Add to Digg

Digg

StumbleUpon Add to Technorati

Technorati What's this?

Relevant Articles

German health care: a bit of Bismarck plus more science: Peter T Sawicki and Hilda Bastian
BMJ 2008 337: a1997. [Extract] [Full Text]

How best to fund the NHS
BMJ 2002 325: 0. [Full Text]

This article has been cited by other articles:

Sawicki, P. T, Bastian, H. (2008). German health care: a bit of Bismarck plus more science. BMJ 337: a1997-a1997 [Full text]
Nolte, E., Ettelt, S., Thomson, S., Mays, N. (2008). Learning from other countries: an on-call facility for health care policy. J Health Serv Res Policy 13: 58-64 [Abstract] [Full text]

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

For and against what?: Martin McKee, et al.
bmj.com, 30 Aug 2002 [Full text]
Overhead and out-of-control spending: Julian M. Bene
bmj.com, 31 Aug 2002 [Full text]
Just not German medicine: timothy g morley
bmj.com, 4 Sep 2002 [Full text]
For or against, does it matter?: Taik P Chuah, et al.
bmj.com, 20 Sep 2002 [Full text]