Question

What is health care coverage convergence? What evidence of convergence can be found in the histories of health care in Great Britain and China?

Answer 1

Convergence means to move towards a place from different directions or to meet at a point. Convergence in healthcare system can be defined as collaboration of all the divergent healthcare organisation in a country so as to make their own healthcare plan.Furthermore, they should have their own physicians and employers are able to directly contract with providers(here referred to physicians and hospitals) . In other words, it is collaboration of payers and providers(physicians and hospitals) to provide population health management.

Evidence of Convergence in Great Britain :- Norway and Britain have a similar healthcare structure. Both Norway and Britain were facing similar challenges. In both countries, there were demand for more investment in healthcare from quality conscious patients, geographical variations in providing quality healthcare, escalating costs. So to address these challenges, the two countries framed some common goals :- 1) Both countries are trying to reduce the inequalities and providing equal healthcare facilities throughout the country with proper and equal distribution of physicians so that everyone can have equal access to them.2)They are trying to slow the public expenditure and obtaining better value for money by devising appropriate incentive structure for payments to physicians. 3) They are trying to improve the working relations between primary and secondary healthcare system and strengthening the role of primary care in healthcare system.

Thus both the countries are trying to converge their policy goals for providing better facilities.

Experience of Convergence in China :- In China, both Sigma and long term and short term Beta Convergence resulted in decreasing disparity in expenditures in different counties of Government healthcare system.