"This is an exemplary PhD thesis. It shows the PhD candidate''s thorough thinking and econometric skills, together with a sense of policy-related research work still ahead. Policy-wise, the thesis is bound to be influential in discussions about the future design of social health protection in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). Also, by putting a quote by John Rawls at the beginning of the thesis, Mr Abu-Zaineh lets us understand how challenging it is to the economics discipline to tackle the overall issue of equity". Professor Guy Carrain World Health Orginization