4.3 Complementary sources of financing

There are two complementary financing sources: voluntary health insurance (VHI) and out-of-pocket payments. These two sources get additional financing to HC system.

VHI is provided by three types of organizations. They are mutual insurance associations, private for-profit insurance companies and provident institutions. They provide VHI in order to compensate for the discrepancy between the amount patients pay for health care and the amount reimbursed by the statutory health insurance system. For each person a special contract on VHI is developed. depending on the terms of the contract organizations pay the patients. (Rodwin, 2006. pp. 146)

Out-of-pocket payments mean that an individual’s household income contributes to the financing of health care. Patients usually make direct payments to providers and reimbursement by the statutory health insurance system rarely covers the total amount spent by the patient. Patients are directly responsible for the cost of health care that is not covered by the statutory health insurance system (such as non-prescription medicines) and for meeting the difference between the amount they pay providers and the amount they are reimbursed by their health insurance fund. (The Commonwealth Fund, 2010, June. p. 24)

4.4 Health care expenditure

According to OECD Health Data (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development ) total expenditure on health care in France has been practically the same during the period from 2000 to 2010. It was estimated as about 10% of gross domestic product. This figure is one of the highest in Europe. (OECD Health Data 2010)

Considering other figures from OECD Health Data, the major part, about 70% of total HC expenditure is financed by social security, about 12% - by complementary VHI, near 10% by private households and close to 8% by the state and local authorities.

During the last years the cost containment was the main issue for the HC expenditure in France. Due to inflation and some specific conditions the price for HC services has fluctuated a lot. However, the overall trend for the past 10 years is that the rise of expenditure has slowed down and leveled. (Gauthier-Villars, 2009, August)

In the financing of French statutory health insurance the role of the state is very important. This feature of the HC system can be detected by the fact that the state monitors and regulates all HC financing coming from various contributions, taxes, compensations and other sources. Another feature that show itself in the financing and expenditure of HC system in France is the large amount of cost sharing. The health care costs are paid by the statutory health insurance scheme (in the form of reimbursements or direct payment by the health insurance funds), while the different health insurance funds are financed by contributions based on professional earnings and other forms of income. The governmental control allow to regulate financing and expenditure efficiently, while large amount of cost sharing helps to provide additional financing, especially in crisis situations.

Conclusion

In France the health care system is an essential part of social security system, which means that the development of health insurance is inalienable from the development of social security system and country development as well. In every country good health of citizens is a priority for the government and its organizations.

In this coursework the Healthcare system in France and its pecularities were discribed. As it was mentioned in the beginnig, the French system has several basic features.

Mix of public and private providers helps to spread the entire population among thousands of hospitals, clinics and doctors. From this comes the second feature – cost sharing. Government can spend less according to existence of private practices. Also, as was proved in this work, the state has a huge influence on the whole system. It applies laws and rules for both public and private hospitals and decides which spheres to expand and in which to invest.

From here we can understand that all these features are mostly the same as in the majority of European countries. But in French HC system there are three main principles, which make the system efficient and stable. These three principles – of solidarity, liberalism and pluralism – are applied in every part of the system. These principles help every citizen to get medical treatment, to receive medical services where they want, from whom they want and when then want. This availability makes system the best in the world according to the ranking of the World Health Organization.

Based on these features and principles French HC system acquired such advantages as availability, qualified personnel, absence of queues, responsibility of the state for the HC system, efficient statutory insurance and, finally, the satisfaction of the population. Undoubtedly, French system works better, than the majority of other state systems in this sphere. Despite presence of certain problems, France as a whole manages to be avoided rationing of medical services, characteristic for other such systems and become the most efficient and stable health care system in the world.

Reference list

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