The Role and Responsibility of government in Planning Principles of the health sector

Health is one of the most basic human requirements that none of society members could be needless of it. Having a healthy, productive and high quality life is a public right that the government is responsible for it. The rapid increase of costs, public expectation, use of new technologies, and oftenabusing them are the problems that health systems are facing in all countries. The unlimited demand of communities for using these limited resources, have enhanced the role of planning in health systems. This study has been aimed to survey the health planning system in some selected countries. According to classification of health systems in four groups of:1- free market system, 2- social insurance system, 3- national insurance system and 4- national medical system, some countries consisting the United States, Germany, France, Britain and the I.R. Iran were selected as the case-study for the aforementioned groups respectively. The results show that the government has an effective role in planning the health system of a country, the severity of which depends on the centralization or decentralization of health system. For example, in the United States, the role of government is not very remarkable, although, the main responsibility is still due to the government. In France, the role of government is completely visible and effective, so that all strategic and operational plans are design by the government. In this regard, determining the role and function of the stakeholders in planning procedure is of great importance, however, focusing on the issue is the responsibility of the government.