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The determinants of access to health care and medicines in India

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  • Divya Srivastava
  • Alistair McGuire

Abstract

This article explores the issue of demand for health care and medicines in India where household share of total health expenditure is one of the highest among high- and low-income countries. Previous work found that important determinants include health status, socio-demographics, income and demand for care was inelastic. Compared with previous studies, this article uses large household data sets including data on medicine expenditure to explore health-seeking behaviour. Count models find that determinants include health status, socio-demographic information, health insurance, household expenditure and government regulation. Elasticities range from −0.13 to 0.03 and are generally consistent with literature findings. For inpatient care, conditional on having at least one hospitalization, the expected number of hospitalizations increases with being male and household expenditure. Medicine expenditure accounts for a large share of household health expenditure. Low-income individuals could experience problems and raises important policy implications on the demand and supply side to improve access to health care and medicines for patients in India.

Suggested Citation

  • Divya Srivastava & Alistair McGuire, 2016. "The determinants of access to health care and medicines in India," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(17), pages 1618-1632, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:48:y:2016:i:17:p:1618-1632
    DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2015.1105921
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    1. Laxminarayan, Ramanan & Parry, Ian W.H. & Smith, David L. & Klein, Eili Y., 2010. "Should new antimalarial drugs be subsidized?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 445-456, May.
    2. repec:ind:iegddp:14 is not listed on IDEAS
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    Cited by:

    1. Brenna, Elenka & Polistena, Barbara & Spandonaro, Federico, 2023. "Analysing outpatient care access for planning purposes: The Basilicata Region experience," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    2. Pulok, Mohammad Habibullah & Hajizadeh, Mohammad, 2022. "Equity in the use of physician services in Canada's universal health system: A longitudinal analysis of older adults," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 307(C).
    3. Betregiorgis Zegeye & Ziad El-Khatib & Edward Kwabena Ameyaw & Abdul-Aziz Seidu & Bright Opoku Ahinkorah & Mpho Keetile & Sanni Yaya, 2021. "Breaking Barriers to Healthcare Access: A Multilevel Analysis of Individual- and Community-Level Factors Affecting Women’s Access to Healthcare Services in Benin," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-15, January.

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