National Health Insurance: The first 16 months

Abstract

The principles for developing National Health Insurance (NHI) as described in the Green Paper are to improve access to quality healthcare services for the whole population and to provide financial risk protection against health-related catastrophic expenditures (Table 1). Comprehensive healthcare will be provided through accredited and contracted public and private providers, with a strong focus on health promotion and prevention services at the community and household level. The first 5 years will focus on strengthening the public sector in preparation for new NHI systems, with the launch of the new central NHI fund envisaged in 2014/15. We review progress since the Green Paper was launched in August 2011, and summarise a more in-depth review just completed.