Failing to respond to health promotion imperatives could scupper or hamper National Health Insurance efforts

摘要

As the process of finalising the National Health Insurance (NHI) Actintensifies, there is increasing concern that insufficient emphasis isbeing placed on addressing the demand side of health with peoplerequiring healthcare, relative to the supply side of provision andfunding of care and treatment. Freeman et al.[1] argue that withincreasing rates of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), the NHIFund risks being overwhelmed by increasing numbers of peopleneeding healthcare. They recommend that there must be a greaterfocus on broadly defined health promotion, which must be integralto the conceptualisation and implementation of NHI. This focusshould include funding for health promotion from the NHI Fundand establishing an intersectoral structure to deal with the socialdeterminants of health.