Social security coverage extension: A review of recent evidence

This article reports the findings of 13 studies undertaken as part of the International Social Security Association (ISSA) project on “Examining the existing knowledge on coverage extension”. It reviews recent evidence that highlights how cash benefits and health‐care coverage, financed on the basis of contributions or tax revenue or both, can be extended and maintained in low‐, middle‐ and high‐income countries. The article also highlights a number of priority areas and issues for coverage extension, including realizing improved protection for informal‐economy and migrant workers.     

Disability benefits and workers with HIV/AIDS: Coverage issues and challenges in the United Republic of Tanzania

This paper explores the effective non‐availability of disability/invalidity benefits to formal sector employees with HIV/AIDS in the United Republic of Tanzania. The legal difficulty of establishing a direct connection between HIV/AIDS and employment injury and occupational diseases present a challenge to social security institutions and schemes which are simultaneously trying to come to grips with the mounting problems of the shrinkage of the formal sector and low coverage. Remedial policy responses are proposed. These identify the statutory and legal adjustments needed both to ensure convergence of eligibility criteria for invalidity benefit claims among the concerned institutions, and to ensure that qualifying conditions are both consistent and in line with contemporary approaches to disbility. The suggested adjustments would simplify and clarify eligibility criteria in cases of invalidity involving existing scheme members, potentially also allowing for a future expansion of benefit coverage better to reflect labour market realities.     

Estimation of population size in entropic perspective

Abstract

Nonparametric estimation of population size is a long standing and difficult problem. It is difficult because, particularly from a likelihood perspective, the underlying distribution could vary greatly and many small probability events may not be observed in a sample. However if approached from an entropic standpoint, certain trends can be exploited. This article proposes several estimators based on an entropic representation of population size, and establishes their consistency. Simulation results of the proposed estimators are also reported in comparison with a well-known estimator, and the advantages are noted. Two examples with real data are also included.     

Inferences on the reliability in balanced and unbalanced one-way random models

In this article, the hypothesis testing and interval estimation for the reliability parameter are considered in balanced and unbalanced one-way random models. The tests and confidence intervals for the reliability parameter are developed using the concepts of generalized p-value and generalized confidence interval. Furthermore, some simulation results are presented to compare the performances between the proposed approach and the existing approach. For balanced models, the simulation results indicate that the proposed approach can provide satisfactory coverage probabilities and performs better than the existing approaches across the wide array of scenarios, especially for small sample sizes. For unbalanced models, the simulation results show that the two proposed approaches perform more satisfactorily than the existing approach in most cases. Finally, the proposed approaches are illustrated using two real examples.     

Nonparametric prediction of future order statistics

Prediction of censored order statistics from a Type-II censored sample can be done with trivial bounds having perfect confidence. However, given independent samples from the same absolutely continuous distribution, improved bounds can be attained. In this regard, we develop here point prediction based on L-statistics for predicting order statistics (OS) from a future sample as well as for predicting censored OS from a Type-II censored sample. An example is taken to illustrate these ideas, and the limiting case wherein a single independent sample is arbitrarily large is also discussed.     

System Transformation and Development Path on Medical Care

China's basic medical care system has achieved universal coverage, faced the system transformation with substance fair. Under the transformation background from universal coverage to integration on urban and rural areas, and the transformation direction from the "medical care" to "health for all", through the institutional transition path on system design, service delivery, fi nancial support, this paper points out that how to improve quality of medical care and optimizing the level of health care services, match sustainable funding system and improving payment system, which in public health, medical services, medical care and medicine supply, realize the transformation and the development from universal medical care to health care.     

Lessons from China on different approaches to pension coverage extension

Achieving universal pension coverage is both an aspiration and a challenge for many developing economies. Traditional contributory schemes are less effective in extending pension coverage to workers who are not in the formal sectors of the economy. As an alternative, non‐contributory schemes have gained popularity in recent years. China’s pension reforms mirror this global trend. The introduction of a contribution‐based pension scheme for urban employees (Employees’ Pension) was followed by a scheme for rural and urban residents (Residents’ Pension), which is partly government financed and partly contributory, with multiple options for premium payment. This study uses nationally representative survey data collected in 2016 to compare the inclusiveness of the two schemes. It finds that access to the Residents’ Pension scheme is more equal than the Employees’ Pension. Lower status workers in terms of education, employment, income and hukou‐migration are more likely to participate in the Residents’ Pension as opposed to the Employees’ Pension, compared with higher status workers. The Chinese experience suggests that a workable solution for pension extension in low‐ and middle‐income countries is to have a scheme that is flexible, affordable and responsive to the diverse needs of the population.     

Decision time: Cost estimations and policy implications to advance Universal Health Coverage in Cambodia

Cambodia aims to expand social health protection to move toward Universal Health Coverage. We developed a modeling tool to facilitate the simple, interactive estimation of cost and coverage for three policy alternatives, enabling decision-makers to simultaneously adjust for scenario options currently under consideration. Assuming the adoption of all scenario options, the projected cost of expanding social health protection to all is US$42 million, to vulnerable individuals is US$32.1 million, and to uncovered 1st–3rd wealth quintile people is US$30.4 million. These policy alternatives are projected to increase population coverage to 100%, 89.1%, and 92.5% by 2025, respectively. The results have multiple policy implications. First, given the similar costs and coverage estimates for the targeted approaches, and other considerations, expansion to the 1st–3rd wealth quintiles is recommended. Second, the model quantifies the potential impacts for policy changes relating to each scenario option. The inclusion of dependents under the contributory schemes significantly shifts costs; reversing the policy of non-payment for priority public health services increases public health facility revenue; and, alignment of reimbursement rates leverages demand-side financing which can increase value for money. Finally, the cost estimates provide a basis for economic planning. Revenue raising options include increasing the contribution ceiling for the private employees’ scheme and the progressive adoption of strategic purchasing.     

重大突发性灾难报道的视觉传播——以日本3·11地震为例

公共媒体与自媒体两种媒体形态存在于同一社会场域中,对于重大突发性灾难报道的视觉传播处理,或理性冷静,专业意识强烈,或人情味儿十足。以NHK(日本广播协会)为代表的日本公共传媒坚持新闻专业主义,成为维系国民精神和秩序的公共平台;以Twitter和Facebook为代表的新型自媒体力量从安慰文化的维度出发,以"治愈系"的口吻温暖发声,进行民间自救。     

A class of fixed-width confidence intervals for a ranked normal mean

Suppose that we are given k(≥ 2) independent and normally distributed populations π₁, …, π_k where π_i has unknown mean μ_i and unknown variance σ² _i (i = 1, …, k). Let μ_[i] (i = 1, …, k) denote the i^th smallest one of μ₁, …, μ_k. A two-stage procedure is used to construct lower and upper confidence intervals for μ_[i] and then use these to obtain a class of two-sided confidence intervals on μ_[i] with fixed width. For i = k, the interval given by Chen and Dudewicz (1976) is a special case. Comparison is made between the class of two-sided intervals and a symmetric interval proposed by Chen and Dudewicz (1976) for the largest mean, and it is found that for large values of k at least one of the former intervals requires a smaller total sample size. The tables needed to actually apply the procedure are provided.