Using data from 60 round of the National Sample Survey, this study attempts to measure the incidence and intensity of “catastrophic” maternal health care expenditure and examines its socio-economic correlates in urban and rural areas separately. Additionally, it measures the effect of maternal health care expenditure on poverty incidence and examines the factors associated with such impoverishm...

BACKGROUND At the beginning of 2007, health care reforms were implemented in Hungary in order to decrease public expenditure on health care. Reforms involved the increase of co-payments for pharmaceuticals and the introduction of co-payments for health care services. OBJECTIVE The objective of this paper is to examine the progressivity of household expenditure on health care during the reform...

Objective: To determine costs related to living with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and to identify the association between health status—as measured by the Health Status Questionnaire short form-36 (SF-36) and the disease specific index Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ)— and the social impact of RA. Methods: A prospective cohort study was carried out on 81 patients with RA who completed four c...

OBJECTIVE To determine costs related to living with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and to identify the association between health status-as measured by the Health Status Questionnaire short form-36 (SF-36) and the disease specific index Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ)-and the social impact of RA. METHODS A prospective cohort study was carried out on 81 patients with RA who completed four co...

BACKGROUND A wide range of health care options are utilised by pregnant women in Australia. The out-of-pocket costs of maternity care in Australia vary depending on many factors including model of care utilised, health insurance coverage, and women's decision to access health services outside of conventional maternity care provision. METHODS Women from the 1973-78 cohort of the Australian Lon...

BACKGROUND The National Health Accounts keep track of all healthcare related activities from the beginning (i.e. resource provision), to the end (i.e. service provision). This study was conducted to address following questions: How is the Iranian health system funded? Who distribute the funds? For what services are the funds spent on?, What service providers receive the funds? METHODS The req...

BACKGROUND Each year, 100 million people are impoverished globally as a result of expenditure on health. OBJECTIVE To assess the constraints and implications of out-of-pocket payment for health services among government employees in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, south east Nigeria. METHOD This was a cross-sectional descriptive study. The study instrument was a pre-tested, semi-structured self ad...

BACKGROUND Most low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) rely significantly on private health expenditure in the form of out-of-pocket payments (OOP) and voluntary health insurance (VHI). This paper assesses VHI expenditure trends in LMIC and explores possible explanations. This illuminates challenges deriving from changes in VHI expenditure as countries aim to progress equitably towards univers...