Do subsidized health programs in Armenia increase utilization among the poor?

Diego Angel-Urdinola and Shweta Jain

No 4017, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: 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. The authors find that beneficiaries of the BBP pay approximately 45 percent less in fees for doctor visits (and display 36 percent 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. The authors estimate 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.

Keywords: Health Monitoring&Evaluation; Health Systems Development&Reform; Health Economics&Finance; Population Policies; Public Sector Expenditure Analysis&Management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006-09-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev and nep-hea
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Do subsidized health programs in Armenia increase utilization among the poor? (2008)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4017

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