BACKGROUND In Kenya, where 60 to 80% of the urban residents live in informal settlements (frequently referred to as slums), out-of-pocket (OOP) payments account for more than a third of national health expenditures. However, little is known on the extent to which these OOP payments are associated with personal or household financial catastrophe in the slums. This paper seeks to examine the inci...

Background: A dramatic increase in healthcare expenditures is a major health policy concern worldwide. Understanding factors that underlie the growth in healthcare expenditures is essential to assist decision-makers in finding best policies to manage healthcare costs. We aimed to examine the determinants of healthcare spending in Iran over the periods of 1978-2011. Methods: A time series ana...

Objective: To describe the proportion of the households that experienced catastrophic health expenditure and to compare the magnitude of catastrophic health expenditure that is estimated from three different data sets in Vietnam. Methods: The study we are comparing with is based on data from the Vietnam Living Standard Survey (VLSS) 1997/98. We have used data from the 2001 re-survey. The FilaBa...

background: a dramatic increase in healthcare expenditures is a major health policy concern worldwide. understanding factors that underlie the growth in healthcare expenditures is essential to assist decision-makers in finding best policies to manage healthcare costs. we aimed to examine the determinants of healthcare spending in iran over the periods of 1978-2011. methods: a time series analys...

BACKGROUND Large HIV care programs frequently subsidize antiretroviral (ARV) drugs and CD4 tests, but patients must often pay for other health-related drugs and services. We estimated the financial burden of health care for households with HIV-infected adults taking antiretroviral therapy (ART) in Côte d'Ivoire. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We conducted a cross-sectional survey. After obtai...

Background India’s health sector witnessed some major policy changes in 1990s that aimed at making health services more accessible to the population.   Methods In this paper, I tried to present some preliminary results of the significant changes that occurred between 1995/6 and 2004, especially in relation to the question of access to healthcare for the poor and rural population using data from...

BACKGROUND To quantify extent of catastrophic household health expenditures, determine factors influencing it and estimate Fairness in Financial Contribution (FFC) index in Georgia to establish the baseline for expected reforms and contribute to the design and fine-tuning of the major reforms in health care financing initiated by the government mid-2007. METHODS The research is based on the n...

background the major objective of the national health insurance scheme (nhis) in nigeria is to protect families from the financial hardship of large medical bills. catastrophic health expenditure (che) is rampart in nigeria despite the take-off of the nhis. this study aimed to determine if households enrolled in the nhis were protected from having che.   methods the study took place among 714 h...

OBJECTIVE Determine incremental increases in healthcare expenditures and utilization associated with allergic rhinitis (AR). METHODS Patients reporting a diagnosis of AR were extracted from the 2007 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey medical conditions file and linked to the consolidated expenditures file. AR patients were then compared to non-AR patients determining differences in healthcare u...