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 The recent expansion of health insurance coverage in the USA under the Affordable Health Care Act, and current threats to reverse the benefits of this reform, have once again focused the world's attention on the difficult challenges faced by other countries trying to provide better access to healthcare to their population at an affordable cost. This textbook provides a comparative review of financing universal access to healthcare in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.The first two chapters of the book provide a framework for financing universal access to healthcare. The remaining eight chapters present case studies of eight OECD countries that have successfully introduced reforms to finance universal access to healthcare for their population through landmark legislative reforms. A concluding chapter focuses on the lessons learned from the OECD and recommendations from policymakers and others who are planning similar reforms. The book is designed as a learning tool for students and as a user guide for policymakers.

This volume reviews the economic underpinnings (investment and financing) and institutional reforms needed to successfully scale up the education of health workers. In this regard, the book examines five major economic and institutional challenges that policy makers face: (1) governance of health education organizations and systems; (2) approaches to financing the education of health workers; (3) the special nature of capital investment in expanding the capacity of health education institutions; (4) public-private partnerships in health education; and (5) equity in accessing health education, with a special focus on issues that arise from private approaches to the education of health workers.Much of the existing literature focuses on the quality and contents of training health workers, and very little has been written on the institutional dimension of financing their training and education. This book examines the complex institutional and financial models and approaches that can impact the demand and supply of health worker education programs around the world.Building on the findings of the Independent Commission on the Education of Health Professionals for the 21st Century, which published on the foundations and the issues of global postsecondary professional education, this volume brings in new and in-depth aspects such as governance, capital investments, and the role of the private sector in the production of health professionals; thus allowing the reader to understand how the health worker education field has moved from theory to practice.

Healthcare for all at affordable prices is still a major but universally elusive goal. Everyone spends money on healthcare, and it is the most impoverishing consumption item. Thus, most governments (and the United Nations) promote Universal Health Coverage - each country's unique blend of tools for healthcare financing, including taxes, subsidies and market controls.Most people in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have no health insurance of any kind. And most LMIC governments lack the political will, information, or resources to require their citizens to buy health insurance themselves or to subsidize insurance for all who cannot afford the price. This book deals with financing voluntary and contributory health insurance for resource-poor and rural groups in LMICs.This book addresses three issues. The first is how to catalyse demand for health insurance and develop insurance literacy among the largely illiterate and innumerate target population, using training programs to build an enabling consensus, allowing locals to create and administer such schemes. The second involves the process of developing simplified methods for risk assessment, which can help to underwrite risks, price the micro health insurance schemes, and ensure proper implementation. The third issue is formulating a compelling business case which would make this health insurance affordable, financially sustainable, and operationally scalable.This book develops insurance education and financial literacy for students of economics, business administration, insurance, development studies, and social work to prepare them for practical work as implementers, policymakers, or evaluators. A supplementary section for teachers and students includes comprehension questions.

This book is the first and only study on implementing Universal Health Coverage in poor, rural and informal settings, with end-to-end guidance for rolling out a demand-driven and needs-based health insurance model. The chapters are comprehensive, covering topics such as data collection and analysis for contextual risk assessment, the design of suitable benefits packages, how to price microinsurance, insurance education for illiterate or innumerate populations, the setting up of governance bodies and training staff for key roles, and information management.The book contains insights gained from years of fieldwork in several countries and is valuable reading for undergraduate and graduate students and practitioners of health microinsurance. As a companion to the author's first book, Financing Micro Health Insurance: Theory, Methods and Evidence, this book provides the only current source of information on implementing health microinsurance. The practical guidelines to setting up and operating a microinsurance scheme are accompanied by impact evaluation, chapter exercises and Issue Briefs that present examples of using tools that are necessary for successful implementation.

This book explores the business and investment implications of sustainability, both opportunities and challenges. The volume lays the groundwork for understanding the growing areas of sustainable business and sustainable finance. Over the past few decades, the world has witnessed significant improvements in economic development that meet a wide range of human needs. Ensuring that such development takes place in a "sustainable" way is the central focus of the book. The book provides insights for businesses, investors, and others on how to navigate this complex and evolving landscape.The United Nations and global leaders in business and investment have emphasized the important role that the private sector can play in protecting the environment and promoting a more sustainable use of resources."What is needed now is a new era of economic growth - growth that is at the same time socially and environmentally sustainable. This call for action in the Forward to the 1987 Bruntland Report (Our Common Future), which emphasizes that economic growth is part of the solution not the problem, still rings true nearly 40 years later.