Mitigating the Impact of the Global Economic Crisis on Household Health Spending

Docteur, Elizabeth

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: ACCESS TO CARE;    ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE;    ACCESS TO SERVICES;    CHILD HEALTH;    COMMUNICABLE DISEASES;   

RP-ID  :  50834

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

The ongoing financial and economiccrisis has hit hard the lives of citizens in Eastern Europeand Central Asian (ECA) countries. Economic growth hasstarted to dip, unemployment is rising and governmentrevenues are expected to fall. The crisis is having a directimpact on the ability of households to pay for health care,a situation that will likely be exacerbated as realgovernment spending on health care declines in manycountries due to reduced revenues from the generalgovernment budget and payroll-funded health insurance.Patients may have to pay higher prices for health care, makedo with reduced access to necessary health services andmedicines, and face other health-related financial hardshipsas well. This brief draws on the experience of countries(outside ECA) in coping with public financing shortfalls, toprovide suggestions for mitigating the impact on ECAhouseholds of reduced public health spending. First,however, it is important to examine private health spendingpatterns in the ECA region.