Reaching the Poor through Demand Subsidies: The Colombian Health Reform

Date
Jun 2000
This paper discusses the Colombian Health Reform, a reform seeking to equalize access to health services for the poor by giving them insurance that can purchase care from public or private providers. The discussion consists of a series of reflections from a seminar that took place in Barranquilla, Colombia, on November 15th-19th, 1999, in which presentations were made by Colombian academics, mayors, hospital managers, regulators, EPS Directors, and newly insured individuals. It is not meant to be a systematic evaluation of the reform, but rather an outsider's view from an intense week of interviews, presentations, and local visits.