BACKGROUND Significant health expenses can force households to reduce consumption of items required for daily living and long-term well-being, depriving them of the capability to lead economically stable and healthy lives. Previous studies of out-of-pocket (OOP) and other health expenses have typically characterized them as "catastrophic" in terms of a threshold level or percentage of household...

BACKGROUND Evaluation of the current clinical treatment of psoriasis in Switzerland remains to be measured with the parameters cost-of-illness and quality of life. OBJECTIVE To obtain data on out-of-pocket expenses, costs of outpatient/office-based care and inpatient care for psoriasis, and to extrapolate total costs by state of severity to the entire Swiss population. METHODS 1200 retrospe...

BACKGROUND We estimated the personal costs to women found to have a breast problem (either breast cancer or benign breast disease) in terms of time spent, miles traveled, and cash payments made for detection, diagnosis, initial treatment, and follow-up. METHODS We analyzed data from personal interviews with 465 women from four communities in Florida. These women were randomly selected from th...

Persons with disabilities use more health care services due to ill health and face higher health care expenses and burden. This study explored the incidence of catastrophic health expenditures of households with persons with disabilities compared to that of those without such persons. We used the Korean Health Panel (KHP) dataset for the years 2010 and 2011. The final sample was 5,610 household...

BACKGROUND The Brazilian public health system, free and universal, should limit out-of-pocket health expenses. However, Brazil was reported as one of the countries with the highest proportion of families experiencing catastrophic expenditure. This study was designed to assess occurrence of high health spending in a low-income population, as well as the pattern of out-of-pocket health payments. ...

• I develop a model where finding work requires effort and monetary expenses. • The model assumes search effort, savings, and search capital are hidden actions. • I use the model to determine the optimal unemployment insurance (UI) policy. • Without savings high upfront benefits is optimal so search expenses are affordable. • With savings UI should be high for the long-term unemployed. a b s t ...

BACKGROUND We lack comprehensive information about the extent of out-of-pocket costs after diagnosis of early breast cancer and their effects on the family's financial situation. METHODS This longitudinal study assessed out-of-pocket costs and wage losses during the first year after diagnosis of early breast cancer among Canadian women and spouses. Out-of-pocket costs for treatments and follo...

BACKGROUND In India, Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) and injuries account for an estimated 62% of the total age-standardized burden of forgone Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs). Public and private financing of clinical services to reduce the NCD burden is a major challenge. METHODS We used National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) survey data from 1995-96 and 2004 covering nearly 200 t...