CURRENT ECONOMIC AND MEDICAL REFORMS IN THE ROMANIAN HEALTH CARE SYSTEM

Abstract

The issue of health has always been, both in social reality and in academia and research, a sensitive topic considering the relationship each individual has with his own health and the health care system as a public policy. At public opinion levels and not only, health care is the most important sector demanding the outmost attention, considering that individual health is the fundamental prerequisite for well-being, happiness and a satisfying life. The ever present research and practical question is on the optimal financing of the health care system. Any answer to this question is also a political decision, reflecting the social-economic value of health for a particular country. The size of the resource pool and the criteria and methods for resource allocation are the central economic problems for any health system. This paper takes into consideration the limited resources of the national health care system (the rationalization of health services), the common methods of health financing, the specificity of health services market (the health market being highly asymmetric, with health professionals knowing most if not all of the relevant information, such as diagnosis, treatment options and costs and consumers fully dependent on the information provided in each case) and the performance of all hospitals in Romania, in order to assess the latest strategic decisions (introduction of co-payment and merging and reconversion of hospitals) taken within the Romanian health care system and their social and economic implications. The main finding show that, even though the intention of reforming and transforming the Romanian health care system into a more efficient one is obvious, the lack of economic and demographic analysis may results into greater discrepancies nationwide. This paper is aimed to renew the necessity of joint collaboration between the economic and medical field, since the relationship between health and economic development runs both ways. (This paper was co-financed by the European Social Fund through the Operational Programme of Human Resources Development 2007-2013, POSDRU/1.5/S/59184 Performance and excellence in the economic science postdoctoral research in Romania coordinated by the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies; my postdoctoral research period lasts from Nov. 2010 to Mar. 2013