Free primary care in Zambia: an impact evaluation using a pooled synthetic control method

Lépine, A., M. Lagarde and A. Le Nestour
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Aurélia Lépine ()

Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers from HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York

Abstract: We estimate the impacts of user fee removal in Zambia using a pooled synthetic control method. We find no evidence that user fee removal changed health seeking behaviours, even among the poorest. We show that these results are not attributable to the imperfect implementation of the policy. Nonetheless, our results confirm that the policy virtually eliminated medical expenditures, thereby providing financial protection to health services users. Since the poorest individuals were found to be less likely to use care and had lower expenses, ceteris paribus, the policy effect was similar to a transfer of US$2.22 per medical visit for the total sample but of only US$0.65 for the poorest people.

Keywords: user fees; health care use; health expenditure; provider choice; synthetic control; propensity score matching; difference-in-differences; Zambia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C01 C20 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:yor:hectdg:15/20

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