The equity and efficiency principle in the financing system of the NHS in Portugal.
The public financing systems of primary health care services and hospital services in Portugal have traditionally been separated. In the United Kingdom where a similar separation exists, inefficient transfers of services take place from the hospital services to the primary care services. In this article a new way of financing of the NHS is proposed which will try to combine the efficiency principle existing in the financing of hospital services with an equity principle reflected in a ceiling on target expenditure for each district.