Health Services and Hospitals Administration Department, Faculty of Economics and Administration, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Economics, Finance and Entrepreneurship Group, Aston Business School, Aston University, Birmingham, UK.
Appl Health Econ Health Policy. 2018 Feb;16(1):55-64. doi: 10.1007/s40258-017-0353-7.
The public sector healthcare system in Saudi Arabia, essentially financed by oil revenues and 'free at the point of delivery', is coming under increasing strain due to escalating expenditure and an increasingly volatile oil market and is likely to be unsustainable in the medium to long term.
This study examines how satisfied the Saudi people are with their public sector healthcare services and assesses their willingness to contribute to financing the system through a national health insurance scheme. The study also examines public preferences and expectations of a future national health insurance system.
A total of 36 heads of households participated in face-to-face audio-recorded semi-structured interviews. The participants were purposefully selected based on different socio-economic and socio-demographic factors from urban and rural areas to represent the geographical diversity that would presumably influence individual views, expectations, preferences and healthcare experiences.
The evidence showed some dissatisfaction with the provision and quality of current public sector healthcare services, including the availability of appointments, waiting times and the availability of drugs. The households indicated a willingness to contribute to a national insurance scheme, conditional upon improvements in the quality of public sector healthcare services. The results also revealed a variety of preferences and expectations regarding the proposed national health insurance scheme.
Quality improvement is a key factor that could motivate the Saudi people to contribute to financing the healthcare system. A new authority, consisting of a partnership between the public and private sectors under government supervision, could represent an acceptable option for addressing the variation in public preferences.
沙特阿拉伯的公共部门医疗体系主要由石油收入资助，并且“在服务提供点免费”，由于支出不断增加以及石油市场日益动荡，该体系正面临越来越大的压力，从中期到长期来看，该体系可能无法持续。
本研究旨在调查沙特人民对公共部门医疗服务的满意度，并评估他们通过国家健康保险计划为该体系供资的意愿。该研究还考察了公众对未来国家健康保险制度的偏好和期望。
共有 36 户家庭参与了面对面的录音半结构化访谈。参与者是根据城乡不同的社会经济和社会人口因素有针对性地选择的，以代表可能影响个人观点、期望、偏好和医疗经验的地域多样性。
证据表明，人们对当前公共部门医疗服务的提供和质量存在一些不满，包括预约的可用性、等待时间和药物的供应。这些家庭表示愿意为国家保险计划供资，但前提是公共部门医疗服务质量有所提高。结果还显示了对拟议的国家健康保险计划的各种偏好和期望。
质量改进是激励沙特人民为医疗体系供资的关键因素。一个由公私部门在政府监督下合作组成的新机构，可能是满足公众偏好差异的一个可接受的选择。
