Health services financing in Poland.
The right to a free health service is identified as one of the founding rules of socialism; yet other sources of funding, both public and private, should not be neglected. This article reviews the major sources of financing health services in Poland. In particular, a description is made of the size and composition of funding from non-governmental sources including: quasi-budget funds, other funds, and out-of-pocket payments; and some proposals are made for change. Further work is needed in developing the criteria by which policy choices can be made, and in developing the information base; at the same time, political and social criteria will still be very important, not least on the issue of user charges.
D005380:Financing, Government; D005382:Financing, Personal; D011044:Poland; D012950:Socialism; D013222:State Medicine / Q000191:economics*; D013223:Statistics as Topic