Household income and health care expenditures in Mexico

The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of household health expenditures in Mexico. Our analysis involves the estimation of household monetary health care expenditures, using the economic and demographic characteristics of the household as covariates. We pay particular attention to the impact of household income on health expenditures, estimating the elasticity of health care expenditures with respect to income for different income groups and according to health insurance status. For the empirical analysis, we use the Mexican National Survey of Income and Expenditures of 1989. Our principle findings show that monetary health expenditures by Mexican households are sensitive to changes in household income levels and that the group which is most responsive to changes in income levels in the lower-income uninsured group. This suggests that in times of economic crisis, these households reduce cash expenditures on health care by proportionately more than higher-income and insured households.     

中国农村贫困地区卫生总费用时间序列系统分析

本文运用宏观卫生经济核算的方法，按照卫生总费用分配流向，整理测算了1978－1993年中国农村贫困地区卫生总费用时间序列的数据并对测算结果进行了政策分析。测算结果发现，贫困的农村地区卫生发展迟缓，与全国平均水平比较，差距在明显扩大；贫困地区在人均国内生产总值水平只有全国平均水平的30％的情况下，投了4．6％的国内生产总值发展卫生保健服务。即使如此，贫困地区居民医疗消费的实际支付能力与当地医疗机构的收费额度相比较，差距日益扩大。在现有支付能力下，贫困农民根本不可能从医疗机构得到基本的卫生保健服务。一方面，是贫困农民医疗需求不足；另一方面，贫困地区医疗机构供给相对有余，效率低下人浮于事。在我国贫困地区卫生费用对农民人均纯收入的多少竟然缺乏弹性，说明贫困地区温饱问题尚未解决。因此，很难指望贫困农民在温饱与健康的选择中，放弃温饱而选择健康。作者认为，农村居民基本卫生服务的实现程度，农村居民大病住院医疗的保障程度，是农村贫困地区卫生行政的主要责任。     

Modeling the determinants of Medicaid home care payments for children with special health care needs: A structural equation model approach

BackgroundThe management of children with special needs can be very challenging and expensive.ObjectiveTo examine direct and indirect cost drivers of home care expenditures for this vulnerable and expensive population.MethodsWe retrospectively assessed secondary data on children, ages 4–20, receiving Medicaid Personal Care Services (PCS) (n = 2760). A structural equation model assessed direct and indirect effects of several child characteristics, clinical conditions and functional measures on Medicaid home care payments.ResultsThe mean age of children was 12.1 years and approximately 60% were female. Almost half of all subjects reported mild, moderate or severe ID diagnosis. The mean ADL score was 5.27 and about 60% of subjects received some type of rehabilitation services. Caseworkers authorized an average of 25.5 h of PCS support per week. The SEM revealed three groups of costs drivers: indirect, direct and direct + indirect. Cognitive problems, health impairments, and age affect expenditures, but they operate completely through other variables. Other elements accumulate effects (externalizing behaviors, PCS hours, and rehabilitation) and send them on a single path to the dependent variable. A few elements exhibit a relatively complex position in the model by having both significant direct and indirect effects on home care expenditures – medical conditions, intellectual disability, region, and ADL function.ConclusionsThe most important drivers of home care expenditures are variables that have both meaningful direct and indirect effects. The only one of these factors that may be within the sphere of policy change is the difference among costs in different regions.     

政府卫生支出健康效率测算及分析

目的：测算和分析中国1990年、2000年和2010年政府卫生支出的健康效率及其影响因素。方法：运用DEA和Tobit测算政府卫生支出的健康效率,评估效率值的影响因素。结果：政府卫生支出的健康生产效率在波动中有所提高,不同年度处于前沿面的省份基本一致,远离前沿面的省份存在较大差别;该效率在各区域间的差异较显著,东部地区政府卫生支出的健康生产效率高于中、西部地区;财政分权与政府卫生支出健康效率存在显著负相关关系。结论：财政分权制度的改革与完善是提高政府卫生支出健康效率的重要途径。     

Counting backward to health care's future: using time-to-death modeling to identify changes in end-of-life morbidity and the impact of aging on health care expenditures

In most developed countries, as the largest population cohorts approach the age of sixty-five, the impact of population aging on health care expenditures has become a topic of growing interest. This articles examines trends in elderly disability and end-of-life morbidity, estimations of the cost of dying, and models of expenditures as a function of both age and time-to-death and finds broad improvement in mortality and morbidity among the elderly in the developed world. Reduced mortality and low growth in the costs associated with dying could reduce forecasted expenditures, but high growth in expenditures for those not close to death and for nonhospital services could create new economic pressures on health care systems.     

Expenditures on health care in the last year of life.

18-26% of public expenditure on health care is devoted to care of patients in their last year of life. 60% of this expenditure is on patients in somatic nursing homes. The figures do not tell directly whether too much or too little money in Norwegian health care is spent on people in the end stage of life. In order to answer this question, one must look at the quality of terminal care and assess the share of patients having a reasonable benefit of the care they receive.     

The relation between selective contracting and healthcare expenditures in private health insurance plans in the United States

Many healthcare systems, including The Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland, have incorporated elements of managed competition, whereby insurers compete for enrollees in a marketplace organized or facilitated by a government or governing entity. In these countries, managed competition was introduced with the idea that the system would contain cost growth while maximizing value for consumers and employers. An important mechanism to control costs is selective contracting: the process of contracting providers into a network and offer insurance packages with varying levels of provider coverage. In these systems, enrollees are expected to choose lower cost plans which offer access to only contracted providers in the network. The questions is, however, if restricting provider choice leads to reduced healthcare expenditures.In the United States, enrollees often have a choice between plans with restricted networks of providers and plans that offer more provider choice, where care outside the contracted network of providers is (partly) covered. The purpose of this study is to understand whether insurance plans with restrictions on provider access in the United States have reduced healthcare expenditures and to identify the mechanism by which that reduction occurred. We used data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), a nationally representative sample of families and individuals. We estimated expenditures for enrollees in restricted network plans using two-part models and generalized linear models. We found that restricted network plans, on average, save $761 per enrollee.Our results suggest that cost savings due to restricted network plans are largely a result of price reductions rather than utilization reductions, although both play a role in cost savings. When introducing reforms shifting from a supply‐oriented to a demand‐oriented health care system, these findings might be worth considering by other countries.     

The impact of no-fault compensation on health care expenditures: An empirical study of OECD countries

Around the world, governments are faced with spiralling health care expenditures. This raises the need for further insight in the determinants of these expenditures. Existing literature focuses primarily on income, ageing, health care financing and supply variables. This paper includes medical malpractice system characteristics as determinants of health spending in OECD countries. Estimates from our regression models suggest that no-fault schemes for medical injuries with decoupling of deterrence and compensation reduce health expenditures per capita by 0.11%. Furthermore, countries that introduced a no-fault system without decoupling of deterrence and compensation are found to have higher (+0.06%) health care spending.     

A methodological note on combining health and social care expenditures into a single statistic for policy-making purposes

Current national expenditure series in the health sector focus predominantly on spending for medical services. However, as the percentage of elderly individuals grows, national policy makers will increasingly require an expenditure series which includes combined expenditure for social care as well as medical expenditures. In one country, Sweden, national policy makers have begun to relate policy decisions to a 12.0% (1996) figure for combined health and social care expenditures. Calculating such a combined figure presents a number of methodological issues, such as which social care services to include and how to reflect donated care from relatives and friends. An international comparison of this new health and social care figure would enable national decision makers to judge better the efficiency and effectiveness of current policy.     

Costs and determinants of privately financed home-based health care in Ontario, Canada

The Canadian context in which home-based healthcare services are delivered is characterised by limited resources and escalating healthcare costs. As a result, a financing shift has occurred, whereby care recipients receive a mixture of publicly and privately financed home-based services. Although ensuring that care recipients receive efficient and equitable care is crucial, a limited understanding of the economic outcomes and determinants of privately financed services exists. The purposes of this study were (i) to determine costs incurred by families and the healthcare system; (ii) to assess the determinants of privately financed home-based care; and (iii) to identify whether public and private expenditures are complements or substitutes. Two hundred and fifty-eight short-term clients (<90 days of service utilisation) and 256 continuing care clients (>90 days of utilisation) were recruited from six regions across the province of Ontario, Canada, from November 2003 to August 2004. Participants were interviewed by telephone once a week for 4 weeks and asked to provide information about time and monetary costs of care, activities of daily living (ADL), and chronic conditions. The mean total cost of care for a 4-week period was $7670.67 (in 2004 Canadian dollars), with the overwhelming majority of these costs (75%) associated with private expenditures. Higher age, ADL impairment, being female, and a having four or more chronic conditions predicted higher private expenditures. While private and public expenditures were complementary, private expenditures were somewhat inelastic to changes in public expenditures. A 10% increase in public expenditures was associated with a 6% increase in private expenditures. A greater appreciation of the financing of home-based care is necessary for practitioners, health managers and policy decision-makers to ensure that critical issues such as inequalities in access to care and financial burden on care recipients and families are addressed.     

The effect of wealth status on care seeking and health expenditures in Afghanistan

This paper analyses the effect of wealth status on care-seekingpatterns and health expenditures in Afghanistan, based on anational household survey conducted within public health facilitycatchment areas. We found high rates of reported care-seeking,with more than 90% of those ill seeking care. Sick individualsfrom all wealth quintiles had high rates of care-seeking, althoughthose in the wealthiest quintile were more likely to seek carethan those from the poorest (odds ratio 2.2; 95% CI 1.6, 3.0).The nearest clinic providing the government's Basic Packageof Health Services (BPHS) was the most commonly sought firstprovider (53% overall), especially for relatively poor households(62% in poorest vs. 42% in least poor quintile, P < 0.0001).Sick individuals from wealthier quintiles used hospitals andfor-profit private providers more than those in poorer quintiles.Multivariate analysis showed that wealth quintile was the strongestpredictor of seeking care, and of going first to private providers.More than 90% of those seeking care paid money out-of-pocket.Mean (median) expenditures among those paying for care in theprevious month were 873 Afghanis (200 Afghanis), equivalentto US$17.5 (US$4). Expenditures were lowest at BPHS clinicsand highest at private providers. Financing care through borrowingmoney or selling assets/land (‘any distress’ financing)was reported in nearly 30% of cases and was almost twice ashigh among households in the poorest versus the least poor quintile(P < 0.0001). Financing care through selling assets/land(‘severe distress’ financing) was less common (10%overall) and did not differ by wealth status. These findingsindicate that BPHS facilities are being used by the poor wholive close to them, but further research is needed to assessutilization among populations in more remote areas. The highout-of-pocket health expenditures, particularly for privatesector services, highlight the need to develop financial protectionmechanisms in Afghanistan.     

Regional variation in health care utilization and mortality

Geographic variation in health care utilization has raised concerns of possible inefficiencies in health care supply, as differences are often not reflected in health outcomes. Using comprehensive Norwegian microdata, we exploit cross-region migration to analyze regional variation in health care utilization. Our results indicate that place factors account for half of the difference in utilization between high and low utilization regions, while the rest reflects patient demand. We further document heterogeneous impacts of place across socioeconomic groups. Place factors account for 75% of the regional utilization difference for high school dropouts, and 40% for high school graduates; for patients with a college degree, the impact of place is negligible. We find no statistically significant association between the estimated place effects and overall mortality. However, we document a negative association between place effects and utilization-intensive causes of death such as cancer, suggesting high-supply regions may achieve modestly improved health outcomes.     

Heterogeneity in The drivers of health expenditures financed by health insurance in a fragmented health system: The case of Switzerland

Switzerland is the world’s second largest spender on health care, both per capita and as a share of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The Swiss health care system is a federation of 26 cantonal systems with highly fragmented provision and financing of care, leading to important geographical disparities in expenditures. We propose a simple conceptual framework to guide the decomposition of health care expenditures into five core components (i.e. demography, propensity to use health services, substitution between domains of care, quantity of services delivered, and unit price of these services), with the objective of better understanding the drivers of geographic variation. We illustrate this framework using aggregated insurance data from 85 % of the 2006 insured population and measure cross-cantonal variation disaggregated into these five components. Results obtained indicated a West-East gradient of controllable costs after adjusting for demography and propensity to use health services. Moreover, we found specific explanations for cost overruns: visits to physicians in private practice in some cantons, and, e.g., outpatient hospital care or variations in drug related expenses in others. This shows that the simple proposed approach provides interesting insights into the drivers of cost differences between regions, specifically in terms of substitution among health services, quantity of delivered services, and their prices.     

四川省城乡居民就医路径及医疗机构选择的影响因素研究

目的 通过纵向随访数据分析四川省城乡居民的就医路径特征和就医机构选择的影响因素。方法 从四川省第五次卫生服务调查的样本区(县)中抽取1个城市点和1个农村点,监测居民3个月的卫生服务利用行为,定性描述居民就医路径特征,采用重复测量资料的多水平Logistic模型分析就诊医疗机构选择的影响因素。结果 患病后,城市点以遵医嘱治疗为主,农村点则以就诊为主;就诊时,城市以县(市、区)级医疗机构为主,农村以基层医疗机构为主;影响就诊医疗机构选择的因素有就业状况、是否患有慢性疾病。结论 四川省城乡居民就医路径特征不同,城市居民就诊机构的流向存在不合理分布。应加强城市点分级诊疗制度的推行,规范城市居民就医行为。     

围绝经期妇女保健状况与卫生需求调查

目的:了解围绝经期妇女的保健状况与卫生服务需求。方法:采用随机抽样方法,对武汉市硚口和江岸七个社区40～60岁的1035名围绝经期妇女保健情况进行面对面问卷调查。结果:1035名围绝经期妇女中只有21.16%定期到医院体检,曾经获得过一种以上保健服务的妇女有482人,占46.57%,而没有享受任何保健服务的有53.43%。希望获得一种以上保健服务的有806人,占77.87%。结论:应加大投入,重视围绝经期妇女的保健工作,强化她们的自我保健意识及满足她们的保健需求。服务个性化、人性化,提倡使用医疗保健卡。     

Price elasticities of demand for curative health care with control for sample selectivity on endogenous illness: an analysis for Sri Lanka

Estimation of demand for health care with samples of only the ill may bias estimates. Additionally, the lack of exogenous information, especially distance, about the alternative care providers causes omitted variable problems. This paper alleviates both problems through geographic mapping of facility information to individuals, combined with joint estimation of illness (health production) and health care demand. The joint estimation full sample demand results are compared to those from one equation estimation for only the ill sample. The results indicate that the selectivity problem is significant, but that for this sample the magnitude of the bias on the price coefficient is small. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

妇女围绝经期症状及保健需求调查

目的:了解上海妇女围绝经期症状发生情况、对围绝经期的认识及围绝经期的保健需求,以指导干预。方法:以社区为基础进行抽样,采用入户面访的方式进行问卷调查。结果:平均绝经年龄(49.96±3.13)岁,围绝经期症状发生率为62.37%。50~和55~岁年龄组症状发生率分别为61.99%和62.85%。9.5%的人认为有必要进行定期的妇科检查,只有32.52%的人近两年做过妇科检查,对各种妇女保健知识需求选择“是”的均在70%以上,有52.13%的人希望医生来居委会提供服务。结论:妇女围绝经期症状发生比例较高,保健意识还有待提高,对社区的围绝经期卫生保健服务及有关知识需求较高。     

A comprehensive scheme of health manpower development for Nepal

How does a land-locked, mountainous, newly emergent country produce the manpower to serve the essential health care needs of its population? The absence of a tradition of medical education, a paucity of medical personnel and the major problems of deployment and communication pose immense challenges to health manpower producers. The policies, plans and programmes of the Government of Nepal to develop appropriate levels of manpower and the discernible problems and prospects faced by the Institute of Medicine are examined. The institutional framework that has been established for an ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the processes and some of the successes achieved have been described.     

The economic burden of visceral leishmaniasis for households in Nepal

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) affects persons from the lowest socioeconomic strata of the community, but its economic impact is not precisely known. An exploratory survey to document the economic costs of VL to households was conducted in an endemic focus in eastern Nepal. Data were collected from the 20 households in this cluster. Cases of VL over the last 3 years were elicited and information on direct and indirect costs incurred due to the disease as well as income of the households over the last year was estimated. It was reported that 15.0% (16/107) of the residents had suffered from VL and that almost all of the patients had preferred, in the first instance, to visit the private services or local faith healers instead of visiting the local public health facility. Average total costs incurred per episode of VL were above the median annual per capita income, and six of the seven affected households either had to sell part of their livestock or to take a loan to cover the costs. Direct costs consisted of 53% of the total cost, with 75% of this cost incurred before the patients actually received any treatment for VL. This study demonstrates how VL can lead to catastrophic expenditure for affected households.