science

National Health Accounts

National Health Accounts is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand National Health Accounts rather than just read about it. In short: The National Health Accounts is a process through which countries monitor the flow of money in their health sector. Looking at different perspective of health financing.

Key takeaways

National Health Accounts belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect National Health Accounts to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of National Health Accounts from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The National Health Accounts is a process through which countries monitor the flow of money in their health sector. Looking at different perspective of health financing. The World Health Organization has been coordinating efforts at the global level to produce those estimates for each and every country.

History

On the 1948 the World Health Organization (WHO) constitution was the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) firmly based. For the monitoring of the UHC it is essential to measure how health systems are financed. The measurement of the health systems are based on data generated by the National Health Accounts. National Health Accounts have been developed using the System of Health Accounts (SHA) defined by OECD. The SHA has been developed since 2000. National Health Accounts have been produced in most developing countries between 2002 and 2009. A new version of SHA has been released in 2011.

Basic Structure Every expenditure in the health system is classified according to characteristics. The three major categories are : Health Care Functions, Health Care Providers, Health Care Financing Schemes. Within each category, you find a number of subcategories. Example of subcategories in Health Care Financing Schemes

Public expenses Tax Mandatory Health Insurance - Social Security- Earmarked taxes Public Donor funding

Private expenses Direct Household Expenses (OOP) Non Governmental Organisation Private insurance - Community Insurance Health expenses by companies

References

External links

World Health Organization - National Health Accounts

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with National Health Accounts

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what National Health Accounts claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to National Health Accounts before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about National Health Accounts ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of National Health Accounts

In research: National Health Accounts appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses National Health Accounts in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: National Health Accounts is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics World Health Organization, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for National Health Accounts outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study National Health Accounts in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what National Health Accounts means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain National Health Accounts out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is National Health Accounts in simple terms?

The National Health Accounts is a process through which countries monitor the flow of money in their health sector. Looking at different perspective of health financing.

Why does National Health Accounts matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study National Health Accounts?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on National Health Accounts.