Catastrophic and Impoverishing Effects of Health Expenditure : New Evidence from the Western Balkans

This paper investigates the effect of health-related expenditure on household welfare in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo, all of which have undertaken major health sector reform. Two methodologies are used: (i) the incidence and intensity of 'catastrophic' he...

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Main Authors:	Bredenkamp, C., Mendola, M., Gragnolati, M.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	EN
Published:	2012
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/5063

id	okr-10986-5063
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-50632021-04-23T14:02:20Z Catastrophic and Impoverishing Effects of Health Expenditure : New Evidence from the Western Balkans Bredenkamp, C. Mendola, M. Gragnolati, M. This paper investigates the effect of health-related expenditure on household welfare in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo, all of which have undertaken major health sector reform. Two methodologies are used: (i) the incidence and intensity of 'catastrophic' health care expenditure, and (ii) the effect of out-of-pocket payments on poverty headcount and poverty gap measures. Data are drawn from the most recent Living Standards and Measurement Surveys, 2000-05. While our analyses are not without their limitations, and the lack of comparability across instruments precludes a direct comparison across countries, there is no doubt that health expenditure contributes substantially to the impoverishment of households-increasing the incidence of poverty and pushing poor households into deeper poverty-in each country. Both the catastrophic and the impoverishing effects of health expenditures are particularly severe in Albania and Kosovo. Transportation expenditure accounts for a large share of total health expenditures, especially in Albania and Serbia. Informal payments are substantial in all countries, and are particularly high in Albania. As countries in the sub-region continue the process of health system reform, an important policy question should be how to protect vulnerable groups from the catastrophic and impoverishing effects of health care expenditure. 2012-03-30T07:31:05Z 2012-03-30T07:31:05Z 2011 Journal Article Health Policy Plan 1460-2237 (Electronic) 0268-1080 (Linking) http://hdl.handle.net/10986/5063 EN http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo World Bank Journal Article Albania Bosnia and Herzegovina Montenegro Serbia Kosovo
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	EN
geographic_facet	Albania Bosnia and Herzegovina Montenegro Serbia Kosovo
relation	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo
description	This paper investigates the effect of health-related expenditure on household welfare in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo, all of which have undertaken major health sector reform. Two methodologies are used: (i) the incidence and intensity of 'catastrophic' health care expenditure, and (ii) the effect of out-of-pocket payments on poverty headcount and poverty gap measures. Data are drawn from the most recent Living Standards and Measurement Surveys, 2000-05. While our analyses are not without their limitations, and the lack of comparability across instruments precludes a direct comparison across countries, there is no doubt that health expenditure contributes substantially to the impoverishment of households-increasing the incidence of poverty and pushing poor households into deeper poverty-in each country. Both the catastrophic and the impoverishing effects of health expenditures are particularly severe in Albania and Kosovo. Transportation expenditure accounts for a large share of total health expenditures, especially in Albania and Serbia. Informal payments are substantial in all countries, and are particularly high in Albania. As countries in the sub-region continue the process of health system reform, an important policy question should be how to protect vulnerable groups from the catastrophic and impoverishing effects of health care expenditure.
format	Journal Article
author	Bredenkamp, C. Mendola, M. Gragnolati, M.
spellingShingle	Bredenkamp, C. Mendola, M. Gragnolati, M. Catastrophic and Impoverishing Effects of Health Expenditure : New Evidence from the Western Balkans
author_facet	Bredenkamp, C. Mendola, M. Gragnolati, M.
author_sort	Bredenkamp, C.
title	Catastrophic and Impoverishing Effects of Health Expenditure : New Evidence from the Western Balkans
title_short	Catastrophic and Impoverishing Effects of Health Expenditure : New Evidence from the Western Balkans
title_full	Catastrophic and Impoverishing Effects of Health Expenditure : New Evidence from the Western Balkans
title_fullStr	Catastrophic and Impoverishing Effects of Health Expenditure : New Evidence from the Western Balkans
title_full_unstemmed	Catastrophic and Impoverishing Effects of Health Expenditure : New Evidence from the Western Balkans
title_sort	catastrophic and impoverishing effects of health expenditure : new evidence from the western balkans
publishDate	2012
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/5063
_version_	1764393800916008960

Catastrophic and Impoverishing Effects of Health Expenditure : New Evidence from the Western Balkans

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