Socioeconomic Determinants of Universal Health Coverage in the Asian Region

Tomoyuki Takura and Hiroko Miura
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Tomoyuki Takura: Department of Healthcare Economics and Health Policy, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8654, Japan
Hiroko Miura: Division of Disease Control and Epidemiology, School of Dentistry, Health Sciences University of Hokkaido, Ishikari 061-0293, Japan

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 4, 1-15

Abstract: The World Health Organization (WHO) states that examining medical financial systems is the most important process in evaluating universal health coverage (UHC). This study used the service coverage index (SCI) as a proxy of the progress toward UHC in eleven Asian countries. We employed a fixed-effects regression model to analyze panel data from 2015 to 2017, to explain the interrelationship between the SCI and major socioeconomic indicators. We also conducted a performance analysis (ratio of achieved SCI level to gross domestic product (GDP) or health expenditure displacement) to examine the balance between the degree of achievements related to UHC and a country’s economic level. The results showed that GDP and health expenditure were significantly positively correlated with the SCI ( p < 0.01). The panel data analysis results showed that GDP per capita was a factor that greatly influenced the SCI as well as poverty (partial regression coefficient: 0.0017, 95% CI: 0.0013–0.0021). The results of the performance analysis showed that the Philippines had the highest scores (GDP: 1.84 SCI score/USD per capita, health expenditure: 1.04 SCI score/USD per capita) and South Korea the lowest. We conclude that socioeconomic factors, such as GDP, health expenditure, unemployment, poverty, and population influence the progress of UHC, regardless of system maturity or geographic characteristics.

Keywords: universal health coverage; service coverage index; gross domestic product; health expenditure; poverty; population; panel data analysis; performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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