OUT-OF-POCKET EXPENDITURE ON OUT-PATIENT CARE IN EAG STATES: AN ANALYSIS BASED ON NSSO 75TH ROUND DATA
Iffat Jahan Azhar, Mohammad Akram
Department of Sociology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India
Abstract
Regardless of their socio-economic status, everyone has the human right to receive healthcare. Since the Indian government spends so little on health care, healthcare spending has been a major source of concern. However, most of the literature in India on determinants of health spending has focused on hospitalization, and there are relatively fewer separate studies on health-seeking behaviour and expenditure in outpatient departments. The purpose of this study was to determine the patterns of health-care-seeking behaviour and the pattern of expenditure incurred by households during outpatient care in Empowered Action Group (EAG) States. The present study used secondary data from the latest 75th round of National Sample Survey (NSS) conducted from July 2017 to July 2018 on the key indicators of social consumption in India: Health. The finding suggest that the seeking behaviour of ailing persons as outpatients, across EAG states only limited population access to public sources of healthcare (36.8% in rural and 27.3% in urban). Rajasthan (46.7%), Madhya Pradesh (41.5%), Bihar (32.9% rural), and Uttar Pradesh (31.3%) have the highest percentage of outpatient who expressed dissatisfaction with the standard of public health services in rural areas. Among EAG states of urban areas, Uttar Pradesh (42.6%) have the highest percentage of not satisfied with the quality of care by government sources. Among EAG states, Significant inter-state variation was observed, with Rajasthan (Rs. 886) reporting the highest expenditure for outpatient treatment and Chhattisgarh (Rs. 350) reporting the lowest in rural areas. However, Uttar Pradesh (Rs. 1194) reported the highest and Odisha (Rs. 508) reported the lowest expenditure incurred on outpatient care by ailing persons in urban areas. The amount that each state spends on healthcare varies greatly, which causes inter-state differences in the cost of outpatient treatment in EAG states. As a result, the government needs to control the cost of medications and diagnostic tests and ensure that plans for outpatient care include coverage.
Keywords: Outpatient care, out-of-pockect expenditure, EAG states
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EPRA International Journal of Research & Development (IJRD)
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Published on : 2023-12-01
Vol | : | 8 |
Issue | : | 11 |
Month | : | November |
Year | : | 2023 |