Risk pooling and redistribution in health care: an empirical analysis of attitudes toward solidarity

Overview

Policy makers  across the world stress the importance of ensuring adequate health  care for all. A significant barrier to this  objective is the frequently high cost  of health care relative to an individual’s income, and that the need for such  care is  often uncertain.  Thus health financing policies across the  world promote risk pooling mechanisms  to protect people from  this barrier  to health care, often with special attention given to  the poor. 

This report is part of a series, The World Health Report 2010 Background Papers, which were written to inform the process of developing the key messages of the World Health Report 2010: Health systems financing: The path to universal coverage.