Health financing options for Fiji's health system.

Abstract

Fiji is currently implementing health care reforms with the first phase of reforms focusing on decentralization of the health system. Part of this effort focuses on looking at financing options. Some options for financing health care include private health insurance, social insurance, community financing, user-pays system (out-of-pocket), health savings accounts, government taxation and subsidies, and overseas loans and aid funding. This paper addresses all these options in detail and provides an analysis into each of these options relevance to Fiji and in some instances to other nations in the South Pacific region. Given the relative small populations of Fiji and its neighbouring nations, a regional approach to financing could prove more viable in the longer-term, however political, social, economic, legal and cultural issues will need to seriously explored.