Health financing for the poor produces promising short-term effects on utilization and out-of-pocket expenditure: evidence from Vietnam
Axelson, Henrik LU ; Bales, Sarah ; Duc Minh, Pham ; Ekman, Björn LU and Gerdtham, Ulf LU
(2009)
In International Journal for Equity in Health
8.
- Abstract
- Background: Vietnam introduced the Health Care Fund for the Poor in 2002 to increase access to health care and reduce the financial burden of health expenditure faced by the poor and ethnic minorities. It is often argued that effects of financing reforms take a long time to materialize. This study evaluates the short-term impact of the program to determine if pro-poor financing programs can achieve immediate effects on health care utilization and out-of-pocket expenditure. Method: Considering that the program is a non-random policy initiative rolled out nationally, we apply propensity score matching with both single differences and double differences to data from the Vietnam Household Living Standards Surveys 2002 (pre-program data) and... (More)
- Background: Vietnam introduced the Health Care Fund for the Poor in 2002 to increase access to health care and reduce the financial burden of health expenditure faced by the poor and ethnic minorities. It is often argued that effects of financing reforms take a long time to materialize. This study evaluates the short-term impact of the program to determine if pro-poor financing programs can achieve immediate effects on health care utilization and out-of-pocket expenditure. Method: Considering that the program is a non-random policy initiative rolled out nationally, we apply propensity score matching with both single differences and double differences to data from the Vietnam Household Living Standards Surveys 2002 (pre-program data) and 2004 (first post-program data). Results: We find a small, positive impact on overall health care utilization. We find evidence of two substitution effects: from private to public providers and from primary to secondary and tertiary level care. Finally, we find a strong negative impact on out-of-pocket health expenditure. Conclusion: The results indicate that the Health Care Fund for the Poor is meeting its objectives of increasing utilization and reducing out-of-pocket expenditure for the program's target population, despite numerous administrative problems resulting in delayed and only partial implementation in most provinces. The main lessons for low and middle-income countries from Vietnam's early experiences with the Health Care Fund for the Poor are that it managed to achieve positive outcomes in a short time-period, the need to ensure adequate and sustained funding for targeted programs, including marginal administrative costs, develop effective targeting mechanisms and systems for informing beneficiaries and providers about the program, respond to the increased demand for health care generated by the program, address indirect costs of health care utilization, and establish and maintain routine and systematic monitoring and evaluation mechanisms. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/1546759
- author
- Axelson, Henrik
LU
; Bales, Sarah
; Duc Minh, Pham
; Ekman, Björn
LU
and Gerdtham, Ulf
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2009
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- International Journal for Equity in Health
- volume
- 8
- publisher
- BioMed Central (BMC)
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000273421000001
- scopus:67651183975
- pmid:19473518
- ISSN
- 1475-9276
- DOI
- 10.1186/1475-9276-8-20
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 9ad47af1-67dd-4774-ab81-66dc946a2e81 (old id 1546759)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 14:14:17
- date last changed
- 2022-01-27 23:34:21
@article{9ad47af1-67dd-4774-ab81-66dc946a2e81,
abstract = {{Background: Vietnam introduced the Health Care Fund for the Poor in 2002 to increase access to health care and reduce the financial burden of health expenditure faced by the poor and ethnic minorities. It is often argued that effects of financing reforms take a long time to materialize. This study evaluates the short-term impact of the program to determine if pro-poor financing programs can achieve immediate effects on health care utilization and out-of-pocket expenditure. Method: Considering that the program is a non-random policy initiative rolled out nationally, we apply propensity score matching with both single differences and double differences to data from the Vietnam Household Living Standards Surveys 2002 (pre-program data) and 2004 (first post-program data). Results: We find a small, positive impact on overall health care utilization. We find evidence of two substitution effects: from private to public providers and from primary to secondary and tertiary level care. Finally, we find a strong negative impact on out-of-pocket health expenditure. Conclusion: The results indicate that the Health Care Fund for the Poor is meeting its objectives of increasing utilization and reducing out-of-pocket expenditure for the program's target population, despite numerous administrative problems resulting in delayed and only partial implementation in most provinces. The main lessons for low and middle-income countries from Vietnam's early experiences with the Health Care Fund for the Poor are that it managed to achieve positive outcomes in a short time-period, the need to ensure adequate and sustained funding for targeted programs, including marginal administrative costs, develop effective targeting mechanisms and systems for informing beneficiaries and providers about the program, respond to the increased demand for health care generated by the program, address indirect costs of health care utilization, and establish and maintain routine and systematic monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.}},
author = {{Axelson, Henrik and Bales, Sarah and Duc Minh, Pham and Ekman, Björn and Gerdtham, Ulf}},
issn = {{1475-9276}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{BioMed Central (BMC)}},
series = {{International Journal for Equity in Health}},
title = {{Health financing for the poor produces promising short-term effects on utilization and out-of-pocket expenditure: evidence from Vietnam}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1475-9276-8-20}},
doi = {{10.1186/1475-9276-8-20}},
volume = {{8}},
year = {{2009}},
}