OBJECTIVE We examined the association between state Medicaid and State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) income eligibility and the financial burden reported by low-income families raising children with special health care needs (CSHCN). SAMPLE AND METHODS Data on low-income CSHCN and their families were from the National Survey of Children With Special Health Care Needs (N = 17039)...

This article presents data about expenses and sources of payment for nursing homes for 1987 and 1996. A central finding is that the role of Medicare in financing nursing home care has greatly expanded. Medicare payments represent 2 and 19 percent of the total for 1987 and 1996, respectively. As Medicare's role increased, there was an accompanying decline in the proportion of expenses paid out o...

PURPOSE Cancer patients carry rising burdens of health care-related out-of-pocket expenses, and a growing number of patients are considered "underinsured." Our objective was to describe experiences of insured cancer patients requesting copayment assistance and to describe the impact of health care expenses on well-being and treatment. METHODS We conducted baseline and follow-up surveys regard...

BACKGROUND Out-of-pocket expenses, medical and non-medical, have an impoverishing effect on the family. OBJECTIVE Determine non-medical out-of-pocket expenses incurred during out-patient attendance for primary care services. METHODS A descriptive survey was undertaken at a rural medical college using interviewer-administered questionnaire to parents of children <6 years over a period of 6 w...

Despite the importance of patient insurance in the market for prescription pharmaceuticals, little is known about the impact of patient reimbursement on the pricing behavior of pharmaceutical firms. I examine the link between potential patient out-of-pocket expenses and pharmaceutical pricing using a unique policy experiment from Germany. Starting in 1989, a maximum reimbursement for a given me...

Kidney transplantation (KT) is only viable renal replacement option for most patients in India. Most patients do not have health insurance and meet treatment expenditure from their own resources. We prospectively evaluated the expenses associated with KT and its impact on the socioeconomic status of families in a public hospital. All direct and indirect expenses incurred by the patients from th...