National health policies typically focus on improving the population’s health and preventing diseases and health hazards so that their entire population can aspire to a healthy and happy life and thus productively contributing to the prosperous development of the country and its economy.

The achievement of national health objectives is eventually achieved through the selection of an adequate and efficient combination of method of financing, organizational delivery structure for health services and payment approach for health providers. In addition, other structural elements contribute to the achievement of health objectives, such as the regulatory framework and programmes of public education.

The approaches to mobilize resources typically include a mixture of general taxation and contributions to public health systems and private health insurance schemes. The main methods of financing for health care include the national health insurance system, general revenue, private insurance, community-based insurance and out-of-pocket payments. The choice of method will impact on who bears the financial burden, the amount of resources available and who manages the allocation of resources.

This paper focuses on the current International Labour Organisation (ILO) priority in the field of health policies – the achievement of universal health coverage – and discusses various approaches towards this priority, that are designed in a coherent manner for each population group through pluralistic methods of financing and delivery systems while ensuring an efficient use of national resources and sufficient solidarity across population groups.