This guide focuses on health economics and financing with the objectives of providing readers with a basic vocabulary and understanding of the most important issues.

The guide is organized into five main sections. Section 1 discusses some key health and development issues, including health and poverty, as well as globalization. Section 2 is devoted to a discussion of the provision and financing of health care. It covers topics such as public-private mix privatization, the role of governments as purchasers of health services and health care financing alternatives - including tax-based financing, external funding, financing through efficiency gains, and user charges. Section 3 covers key health insurance concepts and issues, such as private (for-profit) insurance, medical savings accounts, key characteristics of social health insurance, and provider payment issues and options. Section 4 discusses issues and options in resource allocation and prioritization, including costing of health services and cost analysis. Section 5 focuses on national health accounts. Topics in this section include development of implementing NHAs and their use. All sections end with selected references. A glossary of selected technical terms and concepts is provided at the end.