Abstract: The financial protection of citizens against medical menaces was thus different in the period before the Second World War from the period following it. Most of the health insurance policies were introduced in developed countries much earlier than in developing countries due to the obvious advantages. The oldest national health insurance was in Germany when Otto von Bismarck passed the historic social legislations of Health Insurance Bill in 1883, Capital Accident Insurance in 1884 and the Old Age Disability Insurance Bill in 1889. After that Germany travelled a long way. Britain formulated the National Insurance Act in 1911 that covered most employed persons and their financial dependents. Most other countries of the world adapted healthcare reforms after the Second World War as they signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. The studies on the health insurance systems in developed countries focusing on the system of universal health insurance coverage in particular, revealed various changes in its form and functioning over time and across regions. There was thus a need to review the health insurance policies in the developing countries as that might have a significant contribution to the design of policies in countries like India. . In Mexico a law was passed in April 2003 to implement the System for Social Protection from Jan 1st 2004. Costa Rica had the first social insurance started in 1941 for urban low-wage workers. In Latin American countries, however, there was a dominant presence of private health insurance. In Vietnam, the new Social Health Insurance regulation came into effect on July 1st, 2005. Another popular health insurance programme run by a developing economy was the PhilHealth programme in the Philippines that covered almost 63% of the population. The system of financing of the UCS in Thailand was new. In China, the New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme (NRCMS) was launched in the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2006-2010). The case of Indonesia could be highlighted due to its important health insurance program namely, the Jamkesmas. In India, the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) were two significant initiatives under implementation in the rural areas.
Keywords: Health Insurance, Comparison of health insurance in countries, RSBY, PhilHealth, UCS.
Title: Health Insurance for the poor: An inter-country analysis
Author: Dr. Paramita Roy
International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Innovations
ISSN 2348-1218 (print), ISSN 2348-1226 (online)
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