Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2019 Dec;16(4):515-524.
doi: 10.1007/s11673-019-09924-2. Epub 2019 Jun 24.

Co-payment for Unfunded Additional Care in Publicly Funded Healthcare Systems: Ethical Issues

Joakim Färdow  1 , Linus Broström  2 , Mats Johansson  2
Affiliations
Review

Co-payment for Unfunded Additional Care in Publicly Funded Healthcare Systems: Ethical Issues

Joakim Färdow et al. J Bioeth Inq. 2019 Dec.

Abstract

The burdens of resource constraints in publicly funded healthcare systems urge decision makers in countries like Sweden, Norway and the UK to find new financial solutions. One proposal that has been put forward is co-payment-a financial model where some treatment or care is made available to patients who are willing and able to pay the costs that exceed the available alternatives fully covered by public means. Co-payment of this sort has been associated with various ethical concerns. These range from worries that it has a negative impact on patients' wellbeing and on health care institutions, to fears that co-payment is in conflict with core values of publicly funded health care systems. This article provides an overview of the main ethical issues associated with co-payment, and ethical arguments both in support of and against it will be presented and analyzed.

Keywords: Co-payment; Health care needs; Justice; Prioritization.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Anell, A. 2014. Vilken ojämlikhet är mest rättvis? Patientinflytande och egenavgifter i svensk vård. Falun: Enrepenörskapsforum.
    1. Arvidsson, E. 2013. Priority setting and rationing in health care. PhD dissertation, Linköping University.
    1. Barnieh L, Clement F, Harris A, et al. A systematic review of cost-sharing strategies used within publicly-funded drug plans in member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development. Plos One. 2014;9(3):1–11. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Beauchamp, T. L., and J.F. Childress. 2001. Principles of biomedical ethics. New York: Oxford University Press.
    1. Bloor K. Should patients be able to pay top-up fees to receive the treatment they want? British Medical Journal. 2008;336(7653):1105. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources