https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(06)69560-3.pdf

Effect of payments for health care on poverty estimates in 11 countries in Asia: an analysis of household survey data.

Japanese universal health coverage: Evolution, achievements, and challenges

http://www1.worldbank.org/prem/poverty/ie/dime_papers/1083.pdf

Can insurance increase financial risk ? The curious case of health insurance in China

https://repub.eur.nl/pub/104107/1-s2.0-S2214109X17304291-main.pdf

Progress on catastrophic health spending in 133 countries: a retrospective observational study

http://www.equitap.org/publications/docs/JHE2008Paper.pdf

Who pays for health care in Asia

Out-of-pocket (OOP) payments are the principal means of financing health care throughout much of Asia. We estimate the magnitude and distribution of OOP payments for health care in fourteen countries and territories accounting for 81% of the Asian population. We focus on payments that are catastrophic, in the sense of severely disrupting household living standards, and approximate such payments by those absorbing a large fraction of household resources. Bangladesh, China, India, Nepal and Vietnam rely most heavily on OOP financing and have the highest incidence of catastrophic payments. Sri Lanka, Thailand and Malaysia stand out as low to middle income countries that have constrained both the OOP share of health financing and the catastrophic impact of direct payments. In most low/middle-income countries, the better-off are more likely to spend a large fraction of total household resources on health care. This may reflect the inability of the poorest of the poor to divert resources from other basic needs and possibly the protection of the poor from user charges offered in some countries. But in China, Kyrgyz and Vietnam, where there are no exemptions of the poor from charges, they are as, or even more, likely to incur catastrophic payments.

/pdf/catastrophic-payments-for-health-care-in-asia-4ivhod4l0u.pdf

Catastrophic payments for health care in Asia

Out-of-pocket (OOP) payments are the principal means of financing health care throughout much of Asia. The paper describe the magnitude and distribution of OOP payments for health care in 14 countries and territories accounting for 81% of the Asian population. The focus is on expenditures that may be considered catastrophic, in the sense that they absorb a large fraction of household resources, and on the impoverishing effect of payments. Catastrophic impact is measured by the prevalence and intensity of high shares of OOP in total spending and in non-food expenditure. Impoverishment is measured by comparing poverty headcounts and gaps before and after OOP health payments. Presented here is the first cross-country comparisons of the impoverishing effect of OOP payments measured against the international poverty standards of $1 and $2 per person per day. [Equitap WP 2]

/pdf/paying-out-of-pocket-for-health-care-in-asia-catastrophic-3ioe8ck3bk.pdf

Tae-jin Lee

Papers

Catastrophic payments for health care in Asia

Paying out-of-pocket for health care in Asia: Catastrophic and poverty impact