background both rising healthcare costs and the global financial crisis have fueled a search for policy tools in order to avoid unsustainable future financing of essential health benefits. the scope of essential health benefits (the range of services covered) and depth of coverage (the proportion of costs of the covered benefits that is covered publicly) are corresponding variables in determini...

Despite having achieved an average life expectancy of 75 years, much the same as that of more developed countries, Mexico entered the 21st century with a health system mared by its failure to offer financial protection in health to more than half of its citizens; this was both a result and a cause of the social inequalities that have marked the development process in Mexico. Several structural ...

The most important challenge at the forefront of the national agenda is the need for health care reform. Major concerns of the current system are cost and access to care. This article discusses numerous congressional proposals and strategies for addressing these concerns. ET nurses are in a unique position to influence health care delivery. The Wound Ostomy and Continence Nurses Society has imp...

The article by Homedes and Ugalde in this week’s issue of PLoS Medicine is an important addition to the global discussion about Mexico’s 2003 health reform, the Seguro Popular (SP) [1]. While this reform has been controversial in Mexico [2], it has been highly praised in international circles. The Lancet ran a special series on the reform in 2006, and former U.S. President Bill Clinton lauded S...

This article examines the role of health governance in shaping the outcomes of healthcare reforms in China. The analysis shows that the failure of reforms during the 1980s and 1990s was in part due to inadequate attention to key aspects in health governance, such as strategic interactions among government, providers and users, as well as incentive structures shaping their preferences and behavi...

for more than three decades healthcare decentralization has been promoted in developing countries as a way of improving the financing and delivery of public healthcare. decision autonomy under healthcare decentralization would determine the role and scope of responsibility of local authorities. jalal mohammed, nicola north, and toni ashton analyze decision autonomy within decentralized services...