Financial protection from health spending in the Philippines
Policies and progress
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11490303 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Caryn Bredenkamp (World Bank, corresponding author), Leander R Buisman (0000-0001-6767-4614, Erasmus University Rotterdam) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 31 |
| Issue | 7 |
| Pages | 919-927 |
| Publication date | 2016-09-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Health Policy and Planning (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0268-1080 • E-ISSN: 1460-2237 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/heapol/czw011 |
| PMID | 27072948 |
| OpenAlex | W2341548742 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 10 |
| References cited | 8 |
The objective of this article is to assess the progress of the Philippines health sector in providing financial protection to the population, as measured by estimates of health insurance coverage, out-of-pocket spending, catastrophic payments and impoverishing health expenditures. Data are drawn from eight household surveys between 2000 and 2013, including two Demographic and Health Surveys, one Family Health Survey and five Family Income and Expenditure Surveys. We find that out-of-pocket spending increased by 150% (real) from 2000 to 2012, with the sharpest increases occurring in recent years. The main driver of health spending is medicines, accounting for almost two-thirds of total health spending, and as much as three-quarters among the poor. The incidence of catastrophic payments has tripled since 2000, from 2.5% to 7.7%. The percentage of people impoverished by health spending has also increased and, in 2012, out-of-pocket spending on health added 1.5 percentage points to the poverty rate, pushing more than 1.5 million people into poverty. In light of these findings, recent policies to enhance financial risk protection-such as the expansion of government-subsidized health insurance from the poor to the near-poor, a policy of zero copayments for the poor, a deepening of the benefit package and provider payment reform aimed at cost-containment-are to be commended. Indeed, between 2008 and 2013, self-reported health insurance coverage increased across all quintiles and its distribution became more pro-poor. To speed progress toward financial protection goals, quick wins could include issuing health insurance cards to the poor to increase awareness of coverage and limiting out-of-pocket spending by clearly defining a clear copayment structure for non-poor members. An in-depth analysis of the pharmaceutical sector would help to shed light on why medicines impose such a large financial burden on households.
Business · Demographic economics · Economic growth · Economics · Environmental health · Government (linguistics) · Health care · Health insurance · Health spending · Medicaid · Payment · Population · Poverty · Public economics · Subsidy · Finance · Global Health Care Issues · Global Maternal and Child Health · Healthcare Systems and Reforms · Medicine · Health Policy
What contributes to out-of-pocket health expenditure in Cambodia's uncovered population? A distributional and decomposition analysis using survey data
When state-funded health insurance schemes fail to provide financial protection
Assessing the impoverishing effects, and factors associated with the incidence of catastrophic health care payments in Kenya
Catastrophic health care expenditure in Myanmar
Assessing Covid-19 pandemic’s impact on essential diabetes care in Manila, the Philippines
The role of national health insurance for achieving UHC in the Philippines
Equality in financial access to healthcare in Cambodia from 2004 to 2014
Health financial hardship among ethnic minority populations in Vietnam
A dominance approach to analyze the incidence of catastrophic health expenditures in Iran
Health conditions, payments, proximity, and opportunity costs
| Citations per year | 1.11 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2017 - 2025 (9) |
| Highly cited | No |