Brookings
http://www.brookings.edu/
Accessed 21 December 2013

Opinion | December 2013
The Equity of Universal Health Coverage: Some Reflections from Singapore
By: Calvin Wai Loon Ho
http://www.brookings.edu/research/opinions/2013/12/09-singapore-universal-health-coverage-ho

Excerpt
The challenges confronting health systems in Asia include known and emerging infectious diseases and an increasing prevalence of non-communicable diseases. For a number of countries, such as Singapore, a rapidly aging population is expected to exacerbate the latter. In 2005, member states of the World Health Organization (WHO) from East Asia and elsewhere made a commitment to develop their health financing systems in ways that will ensure that all people have access to health services and do not suffer financial hardship in paying for them.[1] By this initiative, how successfully health systems meet the challenges ahead will depend on the extent that equity in access and equity in financing are achieved. Equity is difficult to define simply, but it is regarded as a cornerstone not only of policy decisions, but also of ethically legitimate social institutions.[2] Broadly speaking, equity is concerned with maximizing the benefits, capabilities and general well-being of the worst off members of a society. In the context of universal health care (UHC), equity in access could be understood as necessitating the prioritization of those who with the greatest health needs in order to secure for them equality of opportunity or capability to the furthest extent possible. At the same time, health systems must ensure that households are not made to contribute more than their ability to pay in order for equity in financing to be also secured…