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Do Out-Of-Pockets Undermine Equity in Healthcare Financing? A Comparison of Healthcare Systems in Europe

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  • Florence Jusot
  • Adèle Lemoine

Abstract

[eng] In order to guarantee equal access to healthcare, it must be funded in an equitable manner to ensure that people are not forced to forgo healthcare and to prevent healthcare from becoming too large a financial burden for patients. This is achieved by ensuring that healthcare received by the poorest people is subsidised by wealthier people, while also ensuring that patients suffering poor health are not burdened with excessive costs for a given income. In practice, patients are required to cover some of their healthcare costs across all European healthcare systems. Since out-of-pockets are only paid by healthcare consumers, their existence may compromise equity in healthcare financing. In this article, we evaluate how out-of-pockets contribute to vertical and horizontal equity in healthcare financing for people aged 50 and over in Europe. Using concentration indices, we demonstrate that equity in financing is not respected, particularly in healthcare systems where out-of-pockets are the least regulated.

Suggested Citation

  • Florence Jusot & Adèle Lemoine, 2024. "Do Out-Of-Pockets Undermine Equity in Healthcare Financing? A Comparison of Healthcare Systems in Europe," Economie et Statistique / Economics and Statistics, Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques (INSEE), issue 542, pages 57-78.
    • Handle: RePEc:nse:ecosta:ecostat_2024_542_4
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.24187/ecostat.2024.542.2111
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Adam Wagstaff, 2019. "Measuring catastrophic medical expenditures: Reflections on three issues," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(6), pages 765-781, June.
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