Quantifying the financial burden of households’ out-of-pocket payments on medicines in India: a repeated cross-sectional analysis of National Sample Survey data, 1994–2014

Objective The objective of this research is to generate new evidence on financial implications of medicines out-of-pocket (OOP) payments for households. Another objective is to investigate which disease conditions contributed to a significant proportion of households’ financial burden.Setting All In...

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Main Authors: Anup Karan, Sakthivel Selvaraj, Habib Hasan Farooqui
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMJ Publishing Group 2018-05-01
Series:BMJ Open
Online Access:https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/8/5/e018020.full
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author Anup Karan
Sakthivel Selvaraj
Habib Hasan Farooqui
author_facet Anup Karan
Sakthivel Selvaraj
Habib Hasan Farooqui
author_sort Anup Karan
collection DOAJ
description Objective The objective of this research is to generate new evidence on financial implications of medicines out-of-pocket (OOP) payments for households. Another objective is to investigate which disease conditions contributed to a significant proportion of households’ financial burden.Setting All Indian states including union territories, 1993–2014.Design Repeated cross-sectional household surveys.Data Secondary data of nationwide Consumer Expenditure Surveys for the years 1993–1994, 2004–2005 and 2011–2012 and one wave of Social Consumption: Health for the year 2014 from National Sample Survey Organisation.Outcome measures OOP expenditure on healthcare in general and medicines in specific.Results Total OOP payments and medicines OOP payments were estimated to be 6.77% (95% CI 6.70% to 6.84%) and 4.49% (95% CI 4.45% to 4.54%) of total consumption expenditure, respectively, in the year 2011–2012 which marked significant increase since 1993–1994. These proportions were 11.46% (95% CI 11.36% to 11.56%) and 7.60% (95% CI 7.54% to 7.67%) of non-food expenditure, respectively, in the same year. Total OOP payments and medicines OOP payments were catastrophic for 17.9% (95% CI 17.7% to 18.2%) and 11.2% (95% CI 11.0% to 11.4%) households, respectively, in 2011–2012 at the 10% of total consumption expenditure threshold, implying 29 million households incurred catastrophic OOP payments in the year 2011–2012. Further, medicines OOP payments pushed 3.09% (95% CI 2.99% to 3.20%), implying 38 million persons into poverty in the year 2011–2012. Among the leading cause of diseases that caused significant OOP payments are cancers, injuries, cardiovascular diseases, genitourinary conditions and mental disorders.Conclusions Purchase of medicines constitutes the single largest component of the total OOP payments by households. Hence, strengthening government intervention in providing medicines free in public healthcare facilities has the potential to considerably reduce medicine-related spending and total OOP payments of households and reduction in OOP-induced poverty.
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spelling doaj-art-46f8eedacc3a4428a7dc5d68a2bf28272025-08-20T02:11:26ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Open2044-60552018-05-018510.1136/bmjopen-2017-018020Quantifying the financial burden of households’ out-of-pocket payments on medicines in India: a repeated cross-sectional analysis of National Sample Survey data, 1994–2014Anup Karan0Sakthivel Selvaraj1Habib Hasan Farooqui25 Indian Institute of Public Health, Delhi (IIPHD), Public Health Foundation of India, Gurugram, IndiaHealth Economics, Financing and Policy Division, Public Health Foundation of India, New Delhi, India2 Indian Institute of Public Health - Delhi, Public Health Foundation of India, New Delhi, Delhi, IndiaObjective The objective of this research is to generate new evidence on financial implications of medicines out-of-pocket (OOP) payments for households. Another objective is to investigate which disease conditions contributed to a significant proportion of households’ financial burden.Setting All Indian states including union territories, 1993–2014.Design Repeated cross-sectional household surveys.Data Secondary data of nationwide Consumer Expenditure Surveys for the years 1993–1994, 2004–2005 and 2011–2012 and one wave of Social Consumption: Health for the year 2014 from National Sample Survey Organisation.Outcome measures OOP expenditure on healthcare in general and medicines in specific.Results Total OOP payments and medicines OOP payments were estimated to be 6.77% (95% CI 6.70% to 6.84%) and 4.49% (95% CI 4.45% to 4.54%) of total consumption expenditure, respectively, in the year 2011–2012 which marked significant increase since 1993–1994. These proportions were 11.46% (95% CI 11.36% to 11.56%) and 7.60% (95% CI 7.54% to 7.67%) of non-food expenditure, respectively, in the same year. Total OOP payments and medicines OOP payments were catastrophic for 17.9% (95% CI 17.7% to 18.2%) and 11.2% (95% CI 11.0% to 11.4%) households, respectively, in 2011–2012 at the 10% of total consumption expenditure threshold, implying 29 million households incurred catastrophic OOP payments in the year 2011–2012. Further, medicines OOP payments pushed 3.09% (95% CI 2.99% to 3.20%), implying 38 million persons into poverty in the year 2011–2012. Among the leading cause of diseases that caused significant OOP payments are cancers, injuries, cardiovascular diseases, genitourinary conditions and mental disorders.Conclusions Purchase of medicines constitutes the single largest component of the total OOP payments by households. Hence, strengthening government intervention in providing medicines free in public healthcare facilities has the potential to considerably reduce medicine-related spending and total OOP payments of households and reduction in OOP-induced poverty.https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/8/5/e018020.full
spellingShingle Anup Karan
Sakthivel Selvaraj
Habib Hasan Farooqui
Quantifying the financial burden of households’ out-of-pocket payments on medicines in India: a repeated cross-sectional analysis of National Sample Survey data, 1994–2014
BMJ Open
title Quantifying the financial burden of households’ out-of-pocket payments on medicines in India: a repeated cross-sectional analysis of National Sample Survey data, 1994–2014
title_full Quantifying the financial burden of households’ out-of-pocket payments on medicines in India: a repeated cross-sectional analysis of National Sample Survey data, 1994–2014
title_fullStr Quantifying the financial burden of households’ out-of-pocket payments on medicines in India: a repeated cross-sectional analysis of National Sample Survey data, 1994–2014
title_full_unstemmed Quantifying the financial burden of households’ out-of-pocket payments on medicines in India: a repeated cross-sectional analysis of National Sample Survey data, 1994–2014
title_short Quantifying the financial burden of households’ out-of-pocket payments on medicines in India: a repeated cross-sectional analysis of National Sample Survey data, 1994–2014
title_sort quantifying the financial burden of households out of pocket payments on medicines in india a repeated cross sectional analysis of national sample survey data 1994 2014
url https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/8/5/e018020.full
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