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Free Health


Adapted from independent.ng

Free Health Care (FHC) policies aim to reduce the financial barriers that people experience when trying to access health services. A FHC policy eliminates formal user fees at the point of service; this can be for all services, for primary health care, for selected population groups, for selected services for everyone or for selected services for specific population groups, usually characterized by medical or economic vulnerability.

Examples of services under a free health care policy include antenatal care, assisted deliveries, caesarean sections, health services for children below a defined age (often five years), or a set of services for elderly people above a certain age (often 65 years). These services are chosen to protect population groups deemed to be especially vulnerable, and particularly the poor.

Easy-to-observe criteria such as age, pregnancy or defined geographical areas are used to determine whether a person is eligible for free health services at the point of use. This is in contrast to relying on income or means assessment to determine whether an individual is entitled to exemption from user fees.

By introducing a FHC policy, a government explicitly intends to make progress towards UHC in two ways:

  • By increasing service utilization for specific services, in line with people’s health needs.
  • By improving financial protection.

Implicitly, FHC also aims to enhance the quality of health services guaranteed through this policy. Transparency and accountability are key aspects, as eligible people need to know they are entitled to FHC. With few budget resources to fund FHC as a way to make progress towards UHC, there are inevitable trade-offs, which lead to decisions about prioritizing particular services or population groups. This requires decisions about who should receive financial protection, and thus implicitly or explicitly who will not benefit immediately.

Culled from WHO

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