The pressures placed on national healthcare systems by the recent demographic and epidemiological transitions are amplified by the growing demands of an increasingly educated and affluent population for high-quality healthcare. Many traditional health practices persist alongside the use of new medical technologies and pharmaceutical products, presenting regulatory problems in terms of safety and quality.
Countries in Southeast Asia and their health system reforms can thus be categorized according to the stages of development of their healthcare systems. A typology of common issues, challenges and priorities are generated for the diverse mix of health systems at different stages of socioeconomic development.
The 1990s began with the opening up of socialist states and rapid growth among market economies in the region. Before the East Asian financial crisis in 1997–98 and the recent global economic recession, an expanding middle class in the urban populations of the larger cities pushed their demand for high-quality care into a booming private sector. As a result, market forces have turned many aspects of healthcare into a new industry in countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, contributing to labour-force distortions for the production and distribution of health workers both within and across countries.
Following the lessons learnt from the past financial crisis, most countries have strengthened their social protection mechanisms and essential health services. Throughout the region, many innovative pro-poor financing schemes were implemented, such as the Health Card and 30-baht Schemes in Thailand, the Health Fund for the Poor in Viet Nam, Health Equity Funds in Cambodia and Laos, and, even in affluent Singapore, the Medifund, a subsidy scheme for indigent patients.
So far, the healthcare systems with dominant tax funding are fairly stable, in view of the strong role of governments and effective controls by health agencies to overcome inequity problems. However, crucial issues involve rising costs, future sustainability of centraliszd tax-financed systems, efficiency and quality of the public services, and higher public expectations.
Some of the most innovative and advanced forms of public–private mix in health services have developed within the region — for example, the restructuring or corporatization of public hospitals in Singapore from as early as 1985 and the later Swadana (self-financing) hospitals in Indonesia.
With the anticipated rise in the ageing population and future problems of intergenerational funding through pay-as-you-go mechanisms, there are experiments with new healthcare financing, such as compulsory medical savings and social insurance for long-term care. Some countries, such as the Philippines, Viet Nam and Indonesia, have radically decentralized their healthcare systems with the devolution of health services to local governments — a restructuring that has affected aspects of systems performance and equity, even though the impetus for decentralization was mainly political. Consequently, to ensure increased financial coverage and affordability, many governments have passed laws to establish national health insurance systems and mandated universal coverage, although implementation is problematic. With existing policies of decentralization and liberalization, equity issues and poor infrastructure will continue to challenge the development of the health sector.