Conference held to discuss the future of Estonia's health system
On 5 March 2010, health experts met at a conference in Tallinn to map out future solutions to health financing in Estonia. WHO Regional Director Zsuzsanna Jakab and Minister of Social Affairs Hanno Pevkur addressed the conference.
The report “Responding to the challenge of financial sustainability in Estonia’s health system” was also launched during the conference. This report brings together the views and values of Estonian stakeholders, recent data on health financing and the macroeconomic context, and new revenue and expenditure projections from now until 2030.
The report is the result of a year-long process of stakeholder consultations and expert analysis commissioned by the Ministry of Social Affairs in 2009, in partnership with the Estonian Health Insurance Fund (EHIF) and WHO/Europe. It includes the following recommendations for strengthening financing policy to meet health system objectives:
- broaden the health sector’s public revenue base so that employment-based finance is supported by other forms of tax revenue;
- improve financial protection of the population by limiting out-of-pocket payments for health care;
- continue fine-tuning resource allocation and purchasing mechanisms to ensure value for money; and
- maintain strong governance of the health system to ensure transparency and accountability.
