related content
Download the final 'Closing the Gap' publication: Taking Action on Health Equity.
This publication contains summaries of what each of the 21 ´Closing the Gap´ partners are doing to address health inequalities in their countries, as well as the conclusions and recommendations of this 3-year initiative.
content
You are here: > National Level Policies > Belgium > Policies, strategies and other documents > Driven by health sector
Policies and Strategies that are Driven by the Health Sector
NATIONAL LEVEL:
Universal Access to Healthcare:
There are specific policies to improve equal access to public health and health care services. In the last decade the federal government has undertaken a lot of initiatives to improve access to the health care system. For example, the requirements for "insurability" were simplified, facilitating the entry of almost the entire population into the health insurance system. A mechanism, known as the "maximum bill", was set up to protect families from large expenses out of their own pocket for health care. Once, in a certain year, the out of pocket payments of a family have reached a certain level (determined by the global income of that family), they receive full reimbursement of all health care costs during that year. From July 2007, the number of people who gained access to increased reimbursement for health care interventions has increased, especially for low income groups. Moreover, since 1996, a royal decree gives access to urgent medical care for people living illegally in Belgium, for both curative and preventive services. The result is that nowadays Belgium has a health insurance system with almost universal coverage. In 2006, the Federal Minister of Health created an "Impulseo-Fund" to stimulate family physicians to establish their practices in deprived areas of the cities: this was the first attempt to orientate a profession into a policy to address the problems of those most in need. However, despite the qualitative high level of the health care services in Belgium, and several initiatives to further improve access to the health care system, 17% of the impoverished postpone health care for financial reasons.
Regional Government (Flanders Region):
Flanders has its own policy to protect and promote the health of its population, through health promotion and disease prevention. On November 21st 2003, the Flemish Decree on Preventive Healthcare Policy was established. The main aim of the Flemish health policy is the 'improvement of public health, realizing health gains at the level of the Flemish population in order to contribute to an increase of the quality of life'. The references to the social determinants of health are emphasized, giving the fight against poverty an explicit health dimension. There is an explanation given in the Explanatory Statement that refers extensively to the global WHO-strategy for tackling health inequalities, and to the importance of inter-sectoral work in order to achieve health goals. This crucial point in the Decree is called ‘het facettenbeleid’ (a ‘health in all policies’ or an ‘intersectoral’ approach). The Flemish Decree on Preventive Healthcare Policy also contains a fixed procedure for the development of new health targets through the organization of health conferences.
The Flemish community has developed prevention/information campaigns targeted at vulnerable groups. These include free vaccination schemes, breast cancer screening and investments into prevention education/campaigns on sexually transmitted diseases and drug addiction among high-risk groups. In general, however, targeting people living in poverty and socially excluded groups in health education and prevention can be much improved. An indication of the current policy attention is the involvement of the welfare and poverty sector in the development of new health targets and policy action plans through the organization of health conferences.
© 2009 Federal Centre for Health Education (BZgA) | last update: 2008-05-06