Catastrophic Household Expenditure Associated with Out-of-Pocket Healthcare Payments in Spain

BACKGROUND: The financial effect of households' out-of-pocket payments (OOP) on access and use of health systems has been extensively studied in the literature, especially in emerging or developing countries. However, it has been the subject of little research in European countries, and is almost nonexistent after the financial crisis of 2008. The aim of the work is to analyze the incidence and intensity of financial catastrophism derived from Spanish households' out-of-pocket payments associated with health care during the period 2008-2015.

METHODS: The Household Budget Survey was used and catastrophic measures were estimated, classifying the households into those above the threshold of catastrophe versus below. Three ordered logistic regression models and margins effects were estimated.

RESULTS: The results reveal that, in 2008, 4.42% of Spanish households dedicated more than 40% of their income to financing out-of-pocket payments in health, with an average annual gap of EUR 259.84 (DE: EUR 2431.55), which in overall terms amounts to EUR 3939.44 million (0.36% of GDP).

CONCLUSION: The findings of this study reveal the existence of catastrophic households resulting from OOP payments associated with health care in Spain and the need to design financial protection policies against the financial risk derived from facing these types of costs.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2021

Erschienen:

2021

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:18

Enthalten in:

International journal of environmental research and public health - 18(2021), 3 vom: 21. Jan.

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

López-López, Samuel [VerfasserIn]
Del Pozo-Rubio, Raúl [VerfasserIn]
Ortega-Ortega, Marta [VerfasserIn]
Escribano-Sotos, Francisco [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

Catastrophic
Economic crisis
Health
Health insurance
Households
Journal Article
Out-of-pocket payments
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Spain

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 23.04.2021

Date Revised 23.04.2021

published: Electronic

Citation Status MEDLINE

doi:

10.3390/ijerph18030932

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM320565556