Privatising Health Care in China

Problems and Reforms

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4782695
AutoresWaikeung Tam (0000-0003-0641-3060, National University of Singapore, autor de correspondencia)
Año2010
Volumen40
Número1
Páginas63-81
Fecha de publicación2010-02-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Contemporary Asia (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0047-2336 • E-ISSN: 1752-7554
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00472330903270700
OpenAlexW2020233259
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas14
Referencias citadas13

This article examines the privatisation of China's health care, highlighting the adverse consequences on the accessibility and quality of health services within the public hospital sector and considering the recent government's efforts to de-privatise the health sector. It argues that the dramatic cutbacks in public financing for the health sector and the failure of the state to establish effective and strong regulatory institutions are two major reasons for the adverse consequences, particularly the declining service quality. The lack of effective regulatory institutions is in turn caused by the following factors: revenue-generation imperative, bureaucratic politics, poorly financed and unqualified regulators. Finally, this article discusses the weaknesses of the recent de-privatisation policy, including implementation problems, the difficulty of the government to reassert its ownership rights over public hospitals, and inadequate regulatory reform

Bureaucracy · Business · China · Economic growth · Economic policy · Economics · Economy · Government (linguistics · Health care · Market economy · Political science · Politics · Public economics · Public sector · Quality (philosophy · Regulatory reform · Revenue · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Finance · Healthcare Systems and Reforms · Public Administration