Financial protection of households against health shocks in Greece during the economic crisis

Social Science & Medicine
Athanasios E Chantzaras, John N Yfantopoulos

Abstract

Harsh funding cutbacks along with measures shifting cost to patients have been implemented in the Greek health system in recent years. Our objective was to investigate the evolution of financial protection of Greek households against out-of-pocket payments (OOPP) during the economic crisis. National representative data of 33,091 households were derived from the Household Budget Surveys for the period 2008-2015. Financial protection was assessed by applying the approaches of catastrophic (CHE) and impoverishing OOPP. The determinants of CHE and impoverishment were examined using binary logistic regressions. OOPP dropped by 23.5% in real values between 2008 and 2015, though their share in households' budget rose from 6.9% to 7.8%, with an increasing trend since 2012. These outcomes were driven by significant increases in medical products (20.2%) and inpatient (63%) OOPP, while outpatient expenses decreased considerably (-62%). Both incidence and overshoot of CHE were significantly exacerbated. The additional burden was distributed progressively, hence, financial risk inequalities decreased. Food poverty increased, but its incidence still remains at very low levels. Both incidence and intensity of relative poverty increased consid...Continue Reading

Citations

Sep 20, 2019·International Journal for Equity in Health·Carlota Quintal
Nov 27, 2018·European Journal of Public Health·Theoni StathopoulouTerje A Eikemo
May 11, 2020·The European Journal of Health Economics : HEPAC : Health Economics in Prevention and Care·John Yfantopoulos
Oct 31, 2020·Frontiers in Public Health·Stavroula Zikidou, Stamatina Hadjidema

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