[An innovative proposal for health insurance policies based on research results: the case of unemployed in Medellin, Colombia].
In recent decades there has been an important academic debate on how to transfer research-based knowledge to the health policy-making process. Despite an intensive controversy and various approaches to the problem, there is basic consensus concerning both the academic relevance and the usefulness of further evaluation of concrete experiences that allow conclusions and clarification of what are still confusing issues. The current article discusses a joint research experience by professors and local and regional health policy-makers. The research focused on the socioeconomic conditions, duration of the employment/unemployment cycle, and features of health insurance for workers that lost their jobs in the Greater Metropolitan "Valle de Aburrá" Area (Antioquia, Colombia) in 2005, as the basis for a proposal to guarantee the maintenance of health insurance for these workers. The potentialities and difficulties of the interactive process are analyzed. The article is also intended to elucidate how scientific outcomes influence policymaking in health, as well as the difficulties imposed by concrete reality and the political process for implementing the innovative proposal.
Cardona
Alvaro
A
Facultad Nacional de Salud Pública, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia. alvarocardona@guajiros.udea.edu.co
Nieto
Emmanuel
E
Restrepo
Román
R
Sierra
Oscar
O
Cárdenas
Carlos Enrique
CE
Aguirre
Felipe
F
D000288:Administrative Personnel; D035843:Biomedical Research; D003105:Colombia; D004059:Diffusion of Innovation; D018166:Health Care Reform; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D007348:Insurance, Health; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D016272:Occupational Health; D011050:Policy Making; D012108:Research Personnel; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014478:Unemployment