BACKGROUND Out-of-pocket payments make up about 80% of medical care spending at hospitals in Laos, thereby putting poor households at risk of catastrophic health expenditure. Social security schemes in the form of community-based health insurance and health equity funds have been introduced in some parts of the country. Drug and Therapeutics Committees (DTCs) have been established to ensure rat...

One way to reduce healthcare costs is target the high spenders who remain persistently in cost over time. Using claims data from China between 2010 2014, we sought identify level of concentration spending and proportion whose five years. a transition matrix linear regression strategy, find that top 10% account for more than 50% total expenditures. Of individuals were 2010, 33.6% remained one ye...

In the absence of formal health insurance, we argue that the strategies households adopt to finance health care have important implications for the measurement and interpretation of how health payments impact on consumption and poverty. Given data on source of finance, we propose to (a) approximate the relative impact of health payments on current consumption with a 'coping'-adjusted health exp...

background: considering the role of laboratory tests as a central part of controlling health expenditure, this study intends to investigate laboratory tests overutilization in iran to pave the way for future interventions.   methods: inappropriate laboratory utilization was reviewed in a cross-sectional survey through the retrospective analysis of 384 medical records at a tertiary center. to pa...

Childbirth can be a costly process for households in countries where financing arrangements are fragmented and fail to provide universal coverage. Seeking obstetric care results in immediate financial outlays as well as longer term economic and social consequences in terms of debt repayment and potential ongoing complications. This chapter reviews the evidence on the obstetric care costs faced ...

BACKGROUND The prevalence and economic burden of chronic diseases are increasing worldwide. Nevertheless, little information is available on catastrophic health expenditures (CHE) associated with chronic diseases in Korea. This study explored the burden of household out-of-pocket health expenditures among the Korean population for different chronic diseases. METHODS This study was conducted u...

INTRODUCTION This paper provides a snapshot of the health-care costs, out-of-pocket expenditures and available safety nets post-Typhoon Haiyan. METHODS This descriptive study used a survey and document review to report direct and indirect health-care costs and existing financial protection mechanisms used by households in two municipalities in the Philippines at one week and at seven months p...