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The Demand for Public Health Care and the Progressivity of Health Care Services in Ghana

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  • Mawuli Gaddah
  • Alistair Munro
  • Peter Quartey

Abstract

This paper examines the choice of health care and progressivity of health care services in Ghana. Using a combination of benefit incidence analysis and a discrete choice model and data from the Ghana Living Standards Survey, our results give clear evidence of progressivity with consistent ordering: postnatal and prenatal services are the most progressive, followed by clinic visits, and then hospital visits. Child health care services are more progressive than adult. Own price and income elasticities are higher for public health care than private health care and for adults than children. Poorer households are substantially more price responsive than wealthy ones, implying that fee increases for public health care will impact negatively on equity in health care. Simulations show the importance of opportunity costs in health care decisions and suggest that reforms that focus only on out‐of‐pocket expenses will have a limited ability to extend public health care to all potential users.

Suggested Citation

  • Mawuli Gaddah & Alistair Munro & Peter Quartey, 2015. "The Demand for Public Health Care and the Progressivity of Health Care Services in Ghana," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 27(2), pages 79-91, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:afrdev:v:27:y:2015:i:2:p:79-91
    DOI: 10.1111/1467-8268.12125
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    Cited by:

    1. Stephen D. Younger & Flora Myamba & Kenneth Mdadila, 2016. "Fiscal Incidence in Tanzania," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 28(3), pages 264-276, September.
    2. Essosinam Franck Karabou & Komlan Ametowoyo Adeve & Kossi Atsutsè Dziédzom Tsomdzo, 2021. "Dépenses publiques de santé, état de santé et croissance en Afrique Subsaharienne: Cas de l'Afrique de l'Est et de l'Ouest," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 33(2), pages 397-407, June.
    3. Richard Agbanyo, 2020. "Ghana's national health insurance, free maternal healthcare and facility‐based delivery services," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 32(1), pages 27-41, March.
    4. Fonseca Morello, Thiago, 2023. "Hospitalization due to fire-induced pollution in the Brazilian Amazon: A causal inference analysis with an assessment of policy trade-offs," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).

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