OBJECTIVE To assess the comparability of out-of-pocket (OOP) payment and catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) estimates from different household surveys in India. METHODS Data on CHE, outpatient and inpatient OOP payments and other expenditure from all major national or multi-state surveys since 2000 were compared. These included two consumer expenditure surveys (the National Sample Survey f...

OBJECTIVES To identify the effects of supplemental private health insurance on health care utilization and expenditure under the mandatory National Health Insurance(NHI) system in Korea. METHODS The data were collected by the National Cancer Center in Korea. Cancer patients who were newly diagnosed with stomach (ICD code, C16), lung(C33-C34), liver (C22), colorectal cancer(C18-C20) or breast(...

Objectives: Korea achieved universal population coverage through national health insurance in 1989. However, out-of-pocket payments (OOP) still accounted for 36% of total health expenditure in 2006. This paper aims to provide evidence for improving the benefit package through analyzing household financial burden. Methods: OOP and the incidence of catastrophic health expenditure were analysed us...

The objective of this study was to estimate catastrophic healthcare expenditure in Brazil, using different definitions, and to identify vulnerability indicators. Data from the 2002-2003 Brazilian Household Budget Survey were used to derive total household consumption, health expenditure and household income. Socioeconomic position was defined by quintiles of the National Economic Indicator usin...

Background Panel tests are a predetermined group of tests commonly requested together to provide a comprehensive and conclusive diagnosis, for example, liver function test (LFT). South African HIV antiretroviral treatment (ART) guidelines recommend individual tests for toxicity monitoring over panel tests. In 2008, the National Health Laboratory Services (NHLS) request form was redesigned to li...

This paper introduces statistics related to the size and composition of Korea's total health expenditure. The figures produced were tailored to the OECD's system of health accounts. Korea's total health expenditure in 2009 was estimated at 73.7 trillion won (US$ 57.7 billion). The annual per capita health expenditure was equivalent to US$ PPP 1,879. Korea's total health expenditure as a share o...

Background—Elevated serum cholesterol accounts for a considerable proportion of cardiovascular disease worldwide. An understanding of the relationship between country-level economic and health system factors and elevated cholesterol may provide insight for prioritization of cardiovascular prevention programs. Methods and Results—Using hierarchical models, we examined the relationship between el...