Not scheduled

Courses

Completed 2008

Private and Social Health Insurance in Developing Markets An International Short Course

Actuarial Fellowship Course SA1: Health and Care

With ASSA’s recent announcement concerning a localised actuarial qualification there will no doubt be an increased demand for the South African Fellowship papers, which were first introduced in 2003. These papers are currently still being offered under the auspices of the Faculty and Institute of Actuaries, with students receiving Fellowship of the relevant UK body on completion of the examinations.

It is undoubtedly in students’ best interests to write the local Fellowship exam as opposed to the UK Fellowship exam as students will be more familiar with the associated market and environment. With the added benefit offered by the tuition modules students should have a much better chance at passing the local Fellowship examination.

To assist students in preparing for the South African Fellowship exam in Health and Care, Prof Heather McLeod will co-ordinate a tuition module which will commence in January 2008. The module is aimed at students intending to write the professional SA1 (South Africa) examination in April 2008.

Lectures will start on 9th January and run every Wednesday afternoon with a one full day workshop on a Saturday in early February. The university course concludes with an examination in early April and the Faculty & Institute of Actuaries’ Specialist Applications examination follows on 14th April.

Lectures will be presented by actuaries with practical experience in the areas concerned. The lecturers for the module will be Prof Heather McLeod, Shivani Ramjee, Paul la Cock and Helen Riding.

Download course outline

The Health Economics Unit at the University of Cape Town offers a 5-day short course addressing the changing role of health insurance in low- and middle-income countries. The course focuses on the financial management of risk pools in diverse settings covering a broad spectrum of insurance arrangements including community-based health insurance, private voluntary insurance for the formal sector and social or national health insurance.

The objective is to give participants an understanding of the choices in the financing of healthcare and issues in private healthcare financing arrangements. The course combines the theoretical principles with practical illustrations, using examples from the private sector in South Africa as well as examples from other African countries. Although specific country examples may be used, the principles conveyed in the case studies have broad relevance.

A core learning objective will be understanding the risks in pooled financing arrangements and techniques for managing those risks. The course will provide an understanding of the design and pricing of benefits and the impact of managed care on healthcare delivery costs. It also addresses the key questions: who should be covered by health insurance and how should providers be paid. Possible pathways towards universal coverage such as in social or national health insurance arrangements will be discussed.

The course will be of interest to:

• Health economists.

• Doctors and health professionals.

• Actuaries and statisticians in healthcare financing.

• Policy-makers and public sector officials dealing with public-private mix issues.

• Researchers dealing with strategic healthcare financing issues.

• Health insurance and hospital administrators.

• Trustees and managers of health insurance schemes or pooled financing arrangements.

• Candidates for the Masters in Public Health programme at UCT or UWC.