Do Subsidized Health Programs in Armenia Increase Utilization among the Poor?

This article analyzes the extent to which the Basic Benefit Package (BBP), a subsidized health program in Armenia, increases utilization and affordability of outpatient health care among the poor. We find that beneficiaries of the BBP pay approximately 45 % less in fees for doctor visits (and displa...

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Main Authors: Angel-Urdinola, Diego, Jain, Shweta
Format: Journal Article
Language:EN
Published: 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10986/5845
id okr-10986-5845
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-58452021-04-23T14:02:23Z Do Subsidized Health Programs in Armenia Increase Utilization among the Poor? Angel-Urdinola, Diego Jain, Shweta Analysis of Health Care Markets I110 Health: Government Policy Regulation Public Health I180 Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions: Consumer Economics Health Education and Training: Welfare, Income, Wealth, and Poverty P360 This article analyzes the extent to which the Basic Benefit Package (BBP), a subsidized health program in Armenia, increases utilization and affordability of outpatient health care among the poor. We find that beneficiaries of the BBP pay approximately 45 % less in fees for doctor visits (and display 36 % higher outpatient utilization rates) than eligible users not receiving the BBP. However, even among BBP beneficiaries the level of outpatient health care utilization remains low. This occurs because the program mainly provides discounted fees for doctor visits, but fees do not constitute the main financial constraint for users. Our estimates suggest that other non-fee expenditures, such as prescription medicines, constitute a more significant financial constraint and are not subsidized by the BBP. As a result, outpatient health care remains expensive even for BBP beneficiaries. 2012-03-30T07:34:49Z 2012-03-30T07:34:49Z 2008 Journal Article Economics Bulletin http://hdl.handle.net/10986/5845 EN http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo World Bank Journal Article Armenia
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language EN
topic Analysis of Health Care Markets I110
Health: Government Policy
Regulation
Public Health I180
Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions: Consumer Economics
Health
Education and Training: Welfare, Income, Wealth, and Poverty P360
spellingShingle Analysis of Health Care Markets I110
Health: Government Policy
Regulation
Public Health I180
Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions: Consumer Economics
Health
Education and Training: Welfare, Income, Wealth, and Poverty P360
Angel-Urdinola, Diego
Jain, Shweta
Do Subsidized Health Programs in Armenia Increase Utilization among the Poor?
geographic_facet Armenia
relation http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo
description This article analyzes the extent to which the Basic Benefit Package (BBP), a subsidized health program in Armenia, increases utilization and affordability of outpatient health care among the poor. We find that beneficiaries of the BBP pay approximately 45 % less in fees for doctor visits (and display 36 % higher outpatient utilization rates) than eligible users not receiving the BBP. However, even among BBP beneficiaries the level of outpatient health care utilization remains low. This occurs because the program mainly provides discounted fees for doctor visits, but fees do not constitute the main financial constraint for users. Our estimates suggest that other non-fee expenditures, such as prescription medicines, constitute a more significant financial constraint and are not subsidized by the BBP. As a result, outpatient health care remains expensive even for BBP beneficiaries.
format Journal Article
author Angel-Urdinola, Diego
Jain, Shweta
author_facet Angel-Urdinola, Diego
Jain, Shweta
author_sort Angel-Urdinola, Diego
title Do Subsidized Health Programs in Armenia Increase Utilization among the Poor?
title_short Do Subsidized Health Programs in Armenia Increase Utilization among the Poor?
title_full Do Subsidized Health Programs in Armenia Increase Utilization among the Poor?
title_fullStr Do Subsidized Health Programs in Armenia Increase Utilization among the Poor?
title_full_unstemmed Do Subsidized Health Programs in Armenia Increase Utilization among the Poor?
title_sort do subsidized health programs in armenia increase utilization among the poor?
publishDate 2012
url http://hdl.handle.net/10986/5845
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