Financing Healthcare Services for the Poor, 2014

This report is a part of Shujog Research’s Financial Innovation for Poverty Reduction Series. It studies the challenges and gaps in the funding of healthcare provision in Asia, and evaluates several innovative financing solutions that can help countries achieve the goal of universal access to healthcare.

Summary

Shujog estimates a funding gap of $59.38 billion per year to scale healthcare solutions and finance universal access in Asia Pacific. To achieve universal healthcare, public healthcare spending will need to increase. But public healthcare financing is not growing fast enough to overcome the funding gap – and sometimes not growing at all. A combination of different funding mechanisms is needed to overcome the funding gap, decrease the over-reliance on out-of-pocket spending, and meet the projected increase in healthcare expenditure. Healthcare social enterprises (SEs), private healthcare financing, and public-private partnerships can fund healthcare delivery and provide financial protection for the underserved more rapidly. Innovative financing will speed up the scaling of healthcare financing that is needed to achieve universal access to healthcare across more countries in Asia. With overstretched public funding and a lack of public healthcare infrastructure, private investment and bilateral and multilateral financing can assist in scaling healthcare solutions to reach those who currently lack financial risk protection, access to healthcare, and improved health outcomes.