Affordability and Financing for Eye Care

Abstract

To successfully develop, run and sustain an eye care programme, several resources are required, finance being among the essential ones. The source of such financing varies somewhat based on who the provider is – the government, non-profit hospital or private sector. Equally the sources vary depending on whether such financing is for capital investment or operating expenses. For a given programme, financing is driven by design, execution, efficiency and a host of other factors. In all areas of the world, financing of eye care is undergoing rapid change. In many low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), the government is promoting health insurance to the poor and marginalized in an effort to make healthcare services inclusive. While such efforts are aimed at achieving universal coverage by removing financial barriers, it is possible that these efforts will compromise the market dynamics as the key stakeholders become less concerned about costs. Since patients with insurance don’t need to pay, they are not cost-conscious. Neither are the hospitals since they get reimbursed for the procedures at negotiated rates, which, at present, tends to be on the high side. As eye care services and financing needs continue to grow, newer modalities like social impact funding or eye care-specific debt financing are emerging. This chapter covers all these facets of financing eye care services with case studies and articulation of ground realities in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Money isn’t the most important thing in life, but it’s reasonably close to oxygen on the ‘gotta have it’ scale– Zig Ziglar