Innovation and Change in the Chilean Health System
2016
This article provides a detailed history of the multiple changes in the Chilean health system and health outcomes since 1950. A regional health system innovator, Chile established a state-run health system in the 1950s. Since then, the shifting political landscape and demographic changes from Chile’s increasing prosperity have resulted in shifts in the public/private system with varying degrees of positive change in health statistics. With recent drops in satisfaction in both health care and in health insurance among Chilean citizens, the government is now considering moving towards a single-payer public insurance system to address both service inequality and recent epidemiologic challenges.
A table of data on selected characteristics of the health care system and health outcomes in Chile supplements the article, along with two brief illustrative case studies: one of the treatment of a myocardial infarction and another of services provided during pregnancy and childbirth.
Innovation and Change in the Chilean Health System
Source:
Bossert TJ, Leisewitz T. Innovation and Change in the Chilean Health System. The New England Journal of Medicine 2016; 374: 1-5. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp1514202.