BACKGROUND Spending on specialty pharmaceuticals is rising faster than that for traditional drugs. In 2006, specialty drugs were the largest category driving drug costs and utilization trends. Even with effective management, expenditures on these agents are projected to increase exponentially in the coming years. OBJECTIVE To review benefit design strategies used by payers to control costs an...

BACKGROUND The Valencian Autonomous Community (Spain) has implemented a scheme of purchasing services with the participation of public and private providers. Five districts are managed using public-private partnership. The financing model is capitation and inter-center invoice. The pharmaceutical benefits are not included in the per capita assignment. OBJECTIVES Modeling and explaining pharma...

High expenditure and increasing health care costs are prime concerning factors in the health care system globally. In some of the developing countries WHO reported out-of-pocket payments as high as 80% of health care spending.1 At present Pakistan is spending only 1.2% of GDP on pharmaceuticals and despite more than 40000 registered brands in the country2 essential and life-saving drugs are mis...

OBJECTIVES To estimate the impact of Medicare Part D on prescription drug coverage among elderly Medicare beneficiaries and to analyze the predictors of program enrollment ("take-up") among those with no prior drug coverage. METHODS Multivariate analyses of data from the 2002, 2004, and 2006 waves of the Health and Retirement Study. RESULTS Take-up of Part D among those without drug coverag...

BACKGROUND The use of medicine is an important part of any health care process and the improvement of health status of any population. While some medicines are legitimately prescribed by practitioners, others take drugs not prescribed by practitioners when they suffer from illness or injuries. The effect of such actions on the health of individuals cannot be overlooked. Even though majority of ...

Medicines are an essential building block of a functioning health system and represent a substantial part of total health expenditure. The objectives of this review are to give an overview of access to medication for cardiovascular disease (CVD) from a health system perspective and to describe strategies that have been used to promote access, including providing medicines at lower cost, improvi...

China has exploded onto the world economy over the past few decades and is undergoing rapid transformation toward relatively more services. The health sector is an important part of this transition. This article provides a historical account of the development of health care in China since 1949. It also focuses on health insurance and macroeconomic structural adjustment to less saving and more ...

OBJECTIVE To examine the effects of health insurance coverage and other factors on access to prescription medicines for non-elderly women ages 18-64. METHODS Based on a nationally representative telephone survey of adult women in the United States, this study uses multiple logistic regression to determine the factors significantly associated with cost barriers among non-elderly women. The sam...

OBJECTIVE Tanzania has a policy of free provision of inpatient care for young children in order to promote timely access and thus reduce the current levels of mortality. However, little is known about out-of-pocket costs that may be incurred by families in seeking care for sick children. We conducted this study to identify the magnitude of these costs in relation to family income. METHODS Fiv...