Out of pocket health care payment, catastrophic expenditure and household poverty in Tanzania: empirical evidence from tanzania panel data survey
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Date
2018
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University of Dar es Salaam
Abstract
This study investigates the catastrophic impacts of out of pocket expenditure and their implication on poverty in Tanzania. Specifically, the study estimates the levels and intensity of catastrophic health expenditure and assesses the impacts of out-of- pocket spending on the welfare of households. In addition, the study examines the determinants of catastrophic expenditure using panel data methods on the logit model, ensuring that estimation problems such as endogeneity, heteroscedasticity, and multicollinearity are addressed. The results indicate that 17.5 percent of the respondents reported visiting a health care facility within four weeks prior to the survey, and more than 50 percent reported incidence of illness or injury. The results also show that among those who utilized health care, about 6.7 percent experienced catastrophic health expenditure and 3.1 percent (which approximates to 1.39 million people) were found to have been impoverished or made poorer by incurring these payments. Furthermore, the study found that out of pocket health care expenditures are significantly and positively associated with catastrophic expenditure as well as household poverty. These findings concur with the contention in the literature that OOP health expenditures tend to lead to financial catastrophe for poor households, thereby exposing them to more poverty and forcing them to resort to coping mechanisms that compromise their welfare. In view of these results, there is a need to explore new and strength existing mechanisms for shielding poor households against out-of-pocket and catastrophic health expenditures.
Description
Available in print form, East Africana Collection, Dr. Wilbert Chagula Library, Class mark (THS EAF RA410.5.T34G356)
Keywords
Health care, Medical care services, Medical policy, Administration, Finance, Medical economics, Economic condition,, Tanzania
Citation
Geofrey, M J (2018), Out of pocket health care payment, catastrophic expenditure and household poverty in Tanzania: empirical evidence from tanzania panel data survey, Doctoral dissertation, University of Dar es Salaam. Dar es Salaam.