11.H. Round table: Making the case for public investment in health

Abstract

Abstract Across the European Union (EU), public budgets are facing pressures and policy makers are becoming increasingly concerned about how to adequately and sustainably fund their health systems to keep up with need and demand. In recognition of this, in 2022 a Technical Support Instrument (TSI) project funded by the Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM) was launched together with three European Union (EU) Member States with the goal of strengthening capacity to make the case for public investments in health. To support these efforts, the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (OBS) conducted an exercise to map relevant analytical approaches and tools for making the case for public investment in health. As a contribution to this workshop, OBS will present the key results from this exercise, including a framework that has been designed to support health policy makers, advisors and advocates by providing five key lines of argument and selected examples of tools, data, indicators and methods that can be used to successfully make the case for public funding for health. This will be complemented by two presentations on country experiences (in Austria and Malta) of navigating negotiations between health and finance and securing public funding for health. These will highlight both successes and challenges in practice. By looking at examples from MS on making the case for public investment in health, these presentations will frame the panel discussion that follows. The chairs will facilitate a discussion closely engaging the audience on how to build better narratives and exchanges which facilitate trust and alignment between health and finance stakeholders in the pursuit of strengthening the capacity to make the case for public investment in health. The workshop will highlight five lines of argument and practical examples of tools, data, indicators and methods that can be used to support the case for public investment in health. It will also focus on the important enablers (e.g. cooperation, communication, transparency, accountability, trust) for successful budget negotiations and discuss how these can be facilitated. Key messages • Budget cases for public funds for health tend to be most successful when they align well with the goals and objectives of finance stakeholders, and certain narratives and arrangements can foster this. • Data and evidence can help steer decision makers to make good choices (or at least avoid bad ones), but other factors serve as the fuel to push the budget case for health forward successfully. Speakers/Panelists Rebecca Forman European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, London, UK Jonathan Cylus European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, London, UK Stefan Eichwalder Ministry of Health, Vienna, Austria Neville Calleja Department of Health Information and Research, G’Mangia, Malta