Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-dnltx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T15:21:43.603Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Blurring the boundaries between public and private health care services as an alternative explanation for the emergence of black medicine: the Israeli case

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 October 2014

Dani Filc  and
Nissim Cohen
Dani Filc*
Affiliation:
Department of Politics and Government, Ben-Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Israel
Nissim Cohen
Affiliation:
Department of Politics and Government, Ben-Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Israel
*
*Correspondence to: Dani Filc, Department of Politics and Government, Ben-Gurion University, PO Box 653, Beer Sheva 841051, Israel. Email: dfilc@bgu.ac.il
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Black medicine represents the most problematic configuration of informal payments for health care. According to the accepted economic explanations, we would not expect to find black medicine in a system with a developed private service. Using Israel as a case study, we suggest an alternative yet a complimentary explanation for the emergence of black medicine in public health care systems – even though citizens do have the formal option to use private channels. We claim that when regulation is weak and political culture is based on ‘do it yourself’ strategies, which meant to solve immediate problems, blurring the boundaries between public and private health care services may only reduce public trust and in turn, contribute to the emergence of black medicine. We used a combined quantitative and qualitative methodology to support our claim. Statistical analysis of the results suggested that the only variable significantly associated with the use of black medicine was trust in the health care system. The higher the respondents’ level of trust in the health care system, the lower the rate of the use of black medicine. Qualitatively, interviewee emphasized the relation between the blurred boundaries between public and private health care and the use of black medicine.

Type
Articles
Information
Health Economics, Policy and Law , Volume 10 , Issue 3 , July 2015 , pp. 293 - 310
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

a

Both authors have equally contributed to the paper.

References

Allin, S., Davaki, K. and Mossialos, E. (2006), ‘Paying for ‘Free’ Health Care: The Conundrum of Informal Payments in Post-communist Europe’, Global Report on Corruption: Corruption and Health. Transparency International, pp. 63–71.Google Scholar
Ben-Porat, G. and Mizrahi, S. (2005), ‘Political culture, alternative politics and foreign policy: the case of Israel’, Policy Sciences, 38: 177–194.Google Scholar
Bin Nun, G. (1999), ‘Main developments in the cost of the basket of services and its funding sources in the years of the National Health Insurance Act’, Social Security, 54: 35–53, in Hebrew.Google Scholar
Central Bureau of Statistics (2013), Statistical Abstract of Israel 2013, Jerusalem: Central Bureau of Statistics. in Hebrew.Google Scholar
Chereches, R., Ungureanu, M., Sandu, P. and Rus, I. (2013), ‘Defining informal payments in health care: a systematic review’, Health Policy, 110(2–3): 105–114.Google Scholar
Cohen, N. (2012), ‘Informal payments for healthcare – the phenomenon and its context’, Health Economics, Policy & Law, 7(3): 285–308.Google Scholar
Cohen, N. (2013), ‘We Are Talking About Saving Lives’: the welfare state, health policy and non-governability – a case study of an Israeli hospital’, Social Work in Public Health, 28(6): 619–636.Google Scholar
Cohen, N. and Mizrahi, S. (2012), ‘Comparative implications: public policy and alternative politics in the case of the Israeli healthcare system’, Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research & Practice, 14(1): 26–44.Google Scholar
Cohen, N., Mizrahi, S. and Yuval, F. (2012), ‘Black market medicine and public opinion toward the welfare state: evidence from Israel’, Social Policy & Administration, 46(7): 727–747.Google Scholar
Eilifsen, A. and Willekens, M. (2008), ‘In the name of trust: some thoughts about trust, audit quality and audit regulation in Europe’, in R. Quick, S. Turle and M. Willekens (eds), Auditing, Trust and Governance: Regulation in Europe, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Ensor, T. (2004), ‘Informal payments for health care in transition economies’, Social Science & Medicine, 58(2): 237–246.Google Scholar
Gaal, P. and McKee, M. (2004), ‘Informal payment for health care and the theory of ‘INXIT’’, The International Journal of Health Planning and Management, 19(2): 163–178.Google Scholar
Gaal, P., Belli, P. C., McKee, M. and Szocska, M. (2006), ‘Informal payments for health care: definitions, distinctions, and dilemmas’, Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, 31(2): 251–293.Google Scholar
Gordeev, V. S., Pavlova, M. and Groot, W. (2013), ‘Informal payments for health care services in Russia: old issue in new realities’, Health Economics, Policy and Law, First View Article, 9: 1–24.Google ScholarPubMed
Graeff, P. and Svendsen, G. T. (2013), ‘Trust and corruption: the influence of positive and negative social capital on the economic development in the European Union’, Quality & Quantity, 47(5): 2829–2846.Google Scholar
Hirschman, A. (1970), Exit, Voice and Loyalty, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Hofbauer, H. (2006), ‘Citizens’ audit in Mexico reveals paper trail of corruption’, Global Corruption Report 2006, Transparency International, pp. 43–45.Google Scholar
Horev, T. and Keidar, N. (2010), Shadows and Light in the Development of the National Health Insurance Law, Jerusalem: Ministry of Health.Google Scholar
Lachman, R. and Noy, S. (1998), A Black Stain on the White Gown, Ramot. Tel-Aviv: Ramot (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Lewis, M. (2007), ‘Informal payments and the financing of health care in developing and transition countries’, Health Affairs, 26(4): 984–997.Google Scholar
Liaropoulos, L. and Tragakes, E. (1998), ‘Public/private financing in the Greek health care system: implications for equity’, Health Policy, 43: 153–169.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mizrahi, S., Vigoda-Gadot, E. and Cohen, N. (2010), ‘Trust, participation, and performance in public administration: an empirical examination of health services in Israel’, Public Performance & Management Review, 33(1): 7–33.Google Scholar
Morone, J. (2000), ‘Citizens or shoppers: solidarity under siege’, Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, 25: 959–968.Google Scholar
OECD (2011), Health at a Glance, OECD Publishers, http/dx.doi.org/10.187/health_glance-2011-en [21 September 2014].Google Scholar
Rothstein, B. (2000), ‘Trust, social dilemmas, and collective memories: on the rise and decline of the Swedish model’, Journal of Theoretical Politics, 12: 477–499.Google Scholar
Rothstein, B. and Stolle, D. (2002), ‘How political institutions create and destroy social capital: an institutional theory of generalized trust’. Paper presented at the American Political Science Association meeting, Boston, MA, 29 August–2 September.Google Scholar
Shirom, A. and Amit, T. (1996), ‘Private health care services in public hospitals: description and assessment’, Social Security, 47: 48–69 (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
State Comptroller (2012), Annual Report 62C, Jerusalem: State Comptroller Office.Google Scholar
Stringhini, S., Thomas, S., Bidwell, P., Mtui, T. and Mwisongo, A. (2009), ‘Understanding informal payments in health care: motivation of health care workers in Tanzania’, Human Resources for Health, 7(1): 53–62.Google Scholar
Tatar, M., Ozgen, H., Sahin, B., Belli, P. and Berman, P. (2007), ‘Informal payments in the health sector: a case study from Turkey’, Health Affairs, 26(4): 1029–1039.Google Scholar
Toper, R. and Barzilai, D. (2012), Public Report on the Sick Funds' Supplementary Services Programs, Jersualem: MOH and Barzilai and Partners.Google Scholar
Uslaner, E. M. (1999), ‘Trust but verify: social capital and moral behavior’, Social Science Information, 38: 29–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uslaner, E. M. (2008), Corruption, Inequality, and the Rule of Law, New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uslaner, E. M. (2013), ‘Trust and corruption revisited: how and why trust and corruption shape each other’, Quality & Quantity, 47(6): 3603–3608.Google Scholar