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Out‐of‐pocket payments for public healthcare services by selected exempted groups in Serbia during the period of post‐war healthcare reforms
Author(s) -
Arsenijevic Jelena,
Pavlova Milena,
Groot Wim
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the international journal of health planning and management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.672
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1099-1751
pISSN - 0749-6753
DOI - 10.1002/hpm.2188
Subject(s) - serbian , health care , payment , equity (law) , direct payments , business , christian ministry , medicine , economic growth , political science , finance , economics , philosophy , linguistics , law
SUMMARY This paper focuses on the exemption mechanism that accompanies patient co‐payments for outpatient and inpatient hospital care in Serbia. The objective was to investigate the level and dynamics of out‐of‐pocket payments for this type of services by exempted groups (older than 65 years, younger than 15 years, unemployed, disabled and individuals with low family income) compared with that by other groups. For this purpose, we use empirical household data collected in the Serbian Living Standards Measurement Study carried out in 2002, 2003 and 2007. These years correspond to the start of the recent reforms in the Serbian healthcare sector and 1 and 5 years after the start of the reform. Our results show that people who belong to exempted groups were paying for healthcare in 2002, 2003 and 2007. They report different types of out‐of‐pocket payments for outpatient and inpatient hospital care. Thus, despite the ambition of the Ministry of Health in Serbia to promote equity in healthcare as a leading aim of the reforms, the implementation of the exemption mechanism fails to protect the targeted groups. Future exemption mechanism should be pro‐poor oriented but should also exempt those whose health status requires a frequent healthcare use. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.