Chile: protección social de la salud Chile: social protection in health

• Main Author: Rafael Urriola
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English; Spanish; Portuguese
• Published: Pan American Health Organization 2006
• Subjects: cobertura universal; costos de la atención de salud; extensión de la cobertura; financiación de la salud; seguros de salud; Chile; universal coverage; health care costs; health services accessibility; economics; insurance; Medicine; R; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doaj.org/article/1fe4c3537a9e41e584713c44c72950f6

This piece begins with a brief discussion of the concepts leading to the social right to health protection. Special emphasis is placed on the principle of social cohesion, which has influenced social health protection in European countries. Chile’s experience in this field from the 1990s to the present is described, as exemplified in three dimensions. In the first place, social security coverage is presented as a means to achieve universal (horizontal) coverage. A discussion follows on vertical coverage, where the author identifies health problems for which insured persons have guaranteed rights of access to medical care. This section describes available emergency care, primary health care, and the special plan for Universal Access to Explicit Guarantees (Acceso Universal de Garantías Explícitas de salud, or AUGE). Thirdly, the discussion covers the funding sources supporting the Chilean health care system: Government subsidies, contributions to social security, and out-of-pocket disbursements for private care. Chile’s public health system has various special programs. One of them is catastrophic insurance, which covers 100% of the care needed for complex and very costly treatments. Older persons (over 65) have coverage for 100% of the cost of eyeglasses and hearing aids, and for 50% of the cost of home care. If life expectancy is an appropriate indicator of health system results, it is worth noting that Chile and the United States of America have both achieved a life expectancy of 77 years, even though Chile spends only 5.9% of its gross domestic product on health care, as compared to the 15% spent by the United States.