Out-of-Pocket Payments and Subjective Unmet Need of Healthcare

Erik Schokkaert, Jonas Steel and Carine Van de Voorde
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Jonas Steel: KU Leuven
Carine Van de Voorde: KU Leuven

Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, 2017, vol. 15, issue 5, No 2, 545-555

Abstract: Abstract We present a critical review of the literature that discusses the link between the level of out-of-pocket payments in developed countries and the share of people in these countries reporting that they postpone or forgo healthcare for financial reasons. We discuss the pros and cons of measuring access problems with this subjective variable. Whereas the quantitative findings in terms of numbers of people postponing care must be interpreted with utmost caution, the picture for the vulnerable groups in society is reasonably robust and unsurprising: people with low incomes and high morbidity and incomplete (or non-existent) insurance coverage are most likely to postpone or forgo healthcare for financial reasons. It is more surprising that people with high incomes and generous insurance coverage also report that they postpone care. We focus on some policy-relevant issues that call for further research: the subtle interactions between financial and non-financial factors, the possibility of differentiation of out-of-pocket payments between patients and between healthcare services, and the normative debate around accessibility and affordability.

Keywords: Dental Care; Price Elasticity; Utilization Data; Financial Reason; European Social Survey (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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DOI: 10.1007/s40258-017-0331-0

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