Financing the COVID-19 response

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic posed immediate and unprecedented financial challenges to health service providers and health systems more broadly. Providers were faced with additional expenditures, not only because many COVD-19 patients required intensive and costly medical care but also because they had to secure necessary supplies and equipment, such as personal protective equipment (PPE), testing supplies and ventilators; reshape facilities to implement new hygiene and safety measures and reorganise patient pathways; and pay health professionals for high-risk and overtime work. At the same time, providers faced sharp falls in revenues due to reduction in volume of non-COVID-19 services, both because people postponed seeking care as well as due to facilities temporarily postponing non-essential care in order treat COVD-19 patients or reorganise provision in a safe way. These increases in the financing needs of the public sector occurred in the context of pandemic-associated economic decline and sharply falling public revenues precipitated by the (sometimes multiple) national lockdowns and general anxiety about engaging in normal daily activities. This presentation will provide an overview of strategies that countries have used to raise extra funds for the health system, adjust payment and purchasing systems to meet changing needs, and ensure health coverage. A brief overview of key metrics to assess resilience in the area of financing will also be provided.