why is it important for the government to protect the poor workers from exploitation that is perpetuated by the private sector?
Answers
An important current issue in the health sector in developing countries concerns the appropriate degree of reliance on the private sector and on private spending for the provision of health care. Proponents of user charges and greater privatization claim that such reliance will conserve scarce public funds and promote efficiency in the sense of cost-effectiveness and responsiveness to consumer preferences (Akin et al., 1987; Jimenez, 1987). Opponents retort with two arguments. The first is an efficiency and effectiveness argument: that in the past in developing countries, the public sector has been successful in providing health care. The second is an equity argument: that because of their reliance on ability to pay as a rationing criterion, user charges for public services and privatization will have negative distributional effects that are likely to outweigh any efficiency gains (e.g., see Gertler et al., 1987, and Gertler and van der Gaag, 1990, on user charges for health care in Peru and Côte d'Ivoire)