Publication: Do Subsidized Health Programs in Armenia Increase Utilization among the Poor?
Abstract
This article analyzes the extent to which the Basic Benefit Package (BBP), a subsidized health program in Armenia, increases utilization and affordability of outpatient health care among the poor. We find that beneficiaries of the BBP pay approximately 45 % less in fees for doctor visits (and display 36 % higher outpatient utilization rates) than eligible users not receiving the BBP. However, even among BBP beneficiaries the level of outpatient health care utilization remains low. This occurs because the program mainly provides discounted fees for doctor visits, but fees do not constitute the main financial constraint for users. Our estimates suggest that other non-fee expenditures, such as prescription medicines, constitute a more significant financial constraint and are not subsidized by the BBP. As a result, outpatient health care remains expensive even for BBP beneficiaries.
Link to Data Set
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Citations
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Do Subsidized Health Programs in Armenia Increase Utilization among the Poor?(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2006-09)This article analyzes the extent to which the Basic Benefit Package (BBP), a subsidized health program in Armenia, increases utilization and affordability of outpatient health care among the poor. The authors find that beneficiaries of the BBP pay approximately 45 percent less in fees for doctor visits (and display 36 percent higher outpatient utilization rates) than eligible users not receiving the BBP. However, even among BBP beneficiaries the level of outpatient health care utilization remains low. This occurs because the program mainly provides discounted fees for doctor visits, but fees do not constitute the main financial constraint for users. The authors estimate suggest that other non-fee expenditures, such as prescription medicines, constitute a more significant financial constraint and are not subsidized by the BBP. As a result, outpatient health care remains expensive even for BBP beneficiaries.Publication Labor Policy to Promote Good Jobs in Tunisia : Revisiting Labor Regulation, Social Security, and Active Labor Market Programs(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2015)Tunisians are striving for the opportunity to realize their potential and aspirations in a country that is rich in both human and physical capital, but whose recent economic growth has failed to create enough opportunities in the form of good and productive jobs. This report highlights the main barriers that hinder the Tunisian labor market from providing income, protection, and prosperity to its citizens and proposes a set of labor policies that could facilitate the creation of better, more inclusive, and more productive jobs. The weak economic performance and insufficient and low-quality job creation in Tunisia is primarily the result of an economic environment permeated by distortions, barriers to competition, and excessive red tape, including in the labor market. This has resulted in the creation of a insufficient number of jobs, especially in the formal sector. To change this situation, policy makers need to address five strategic directives that can promote long-term inclusive growth and formality: foster competition; realign incentives, pay, and benefit packages in the public sector; move toward labor regulations that promote labor mobility and provide support to workers in periods of transition; enhance the productivity of informal workers through training and skills building; and reform existing social insurance systems and introduce new instruments to attain broader coverage.Publication Equity, Access to Health Care Services and Expenditures on Health in Nicaragua(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-06)Nicaragua has embarked on an ambitious health sector program, which has contributed to significant progress in the health sector over the past decade. Health indicators show gradual but steady improvements: access to basic services such as clean water and sanitation facilities has improved, as have other related performance indicators such as life expectancy, infant/child mortality, immunization rates, and child nutrition among others. Despite these achievements, there are still large inequities in access and quality of health services across socioeconomic groups and regions. Poor individuals living in rural areas (especially in the Central and Atlantic regions), the indigenous population, and individuals living in households engaged in agriculture have average access to health care services and preventive care. The lack of risk mitigation mechanisms such as insurance and social security is causing users in Nicaragua to spend, out-of-pocket, a significant share of their income on health care, especially to buy medications and other non-consultation items such as medical tests. Long distances, lack of medicines, and high costs and other demand-side factors (such as self-prescription) constitute the main constraints causing poor and sick individuals to seek informal care or not to seek care at all.Publication Labor Markets and School-to-Work Transition in Egypt(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2010-07)Despite substantial improvements in labor market outcomes in recent years (in raising employment and participation and in lowering unemployment), unemployment rates in Egypt remain exceedingly high among youth2 entering the labor market for the first time. A slow school-to-work transition remains the main reason behind high unemployment rates. The youth unemployment rate in Egypt, at 24 percent in year 2006, is high for international standards- though similar to those in North Africa. Moreover, youth entering the labor market for the first time account for about 82 percent of the countrys unemployed workers.Publication Labor Markets and School-to-Work Transition in Egypt : Diagnostics, Constraints, and Policy Framework(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2010-11)Analysis in this policy note indicates a rapid deterioration in employment opportunities for young individuals transitioning from school to work in Egypt. Despite substantial improvements in labor market outcomes in recent years (in raising employment and participation and in lowering unemployment), unemployment rates in Egypt remain exceedingly high among youth entering the labor market for the first time. A slow school-to-work transition remains the main reason behind high unemployment rates. Young entrants to the labor market have become more educated than ever before: the share of the working-age-population with university education in Egypt has increased significantly between the years 1998 and 2006 (from 14% to 19% among men and from 9% to 14% among women). However, youth are unable to capitalize the time and resources invested in their education as the labor market is not providing enough good-quality jobs for them. To cope with scarce formal jobs, young-educated workers are opting to work in the informal sector and/or withdraw from the labor force, which is contributing to a deadweight loss of recent investments in education. There are three key factors that seem to explain why school-to-job transition remains low in Egypt: investments in the private sector remain low and capital intensive, new graduates are not equipped with the skills demanded by the private sector, and the public sector still provides incentives for educated individuals (mainly women) to queue for private sector jobs. There are several policy options used in the international context to further enhance the performance of the labor market; such as enhancing employability of new entrants, reforming the technical and vocational training system, and designing targeted programs aiming to boost labor demand.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
No results found.