Health spending in Lebanon is growing rapidly and faster than GDP. The current financing and delivery arrangements, extensively described in this book, are responsible for the resulting poor value for money. Reform is needed to adapt the health system with financial constraints and changing demographic and epidemiological profiles, and to produce the desired health outcomes. Lebanon's experience in introducing reform measures within a pluralistic health system, is interesting for many EMR countries, which consider enhancing the private sector role in health care provision and financing. This book provides evidence that, in the absence of proper regulation, the public financing of private services feed the escalation of health expenditures, while private insurance takes full advantage of the weak regulation capability of the public administration. It provides an analysis of the health care market and assesses the impact of the supply and different payment mechanisms on the demand and the cost of medical services.

This book does not only target experts and health professionals but is also a useful reference for students in medical and public health schools. It exposes them to different approaches for evaluating a health system, comparing utilization rates and incurred expenses between financing agencies, and calculating national health accounts. Finally, it introduces different reform components, proposes their gradual integration and gives the global picture of change for the future. 

Contents:
Foreword from the Minister of Health
Foreword from the WHO-EM Regional Director
Acknowledgements
Preface

Chapters:
I-    The Challenging Context
II-   Provision of Health Services
III-  Financing of The Health System
IV-   Characteristics of The Market
V-    Evaluation of The Health System
VI-   Health Sector Reform
VII-  Health Financing Reform and Stakeholder Analysis

Annex: Interface and Resource Bodies (IRB)
Acronyms
List of Tables
List of Figures
Bibliography