Determination of the Amount of Health Care Public Funding: Latvian Case

Abstract

Decisions on allocation of public funding is one of the significant challenges for any health care system. The Latvian health financing policy faces challenges that threaten its long- term sustainability and the values of solidarity. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), health, as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, is one of every human's fundamental rights, which depends upon the fullest cooperation of individuals and States. This also includes the task "Substantially increase health financing". Such concepts ask for the regular measurement of the progress to explicate the achieved level in statics and dynamics and make the strategic decisions for the coming period, including those on the public healthcare expenditure. The purpose of the article is to evaluate necessary allocations of general government budget expenditures and to ensure justification for the strategic decisions for the next planning period on the healthcare expenditure and evaluate the achieved level in statics and dynamics and provide policy recommendations for future health financing system reforms.