List-based approaches cannot keep pace with the development of new ways to diagnose and treat disease. They are also based on the flawed assumption that any service is always useful or always useless. In addition, decisions about individual health services can and should continue to be made on the basis of the best available evidence, judgement and sensitivity to circumstances. Quality health care and equity of access can best be preserved by maintaining public funding. There are no completely private or completely public health care systems.
All countries have a mix of funding sources.
Currently, about 28 per cent of our health care system is privately funded. The major expenditures which are privately funded are pharmaceuticals, home care and dentistry. The Forum believes in the principle that all medically required care should be publicly funded, but in practice it may take some time before we reach this goal. Funding for health care should no longer be dependent on where it is delivered.