Publication
Title
Impact of government budget on health prepayment levels : evidence from OECD countries
Author
Abstract
Background: Health prepayment, a key indicator under the Sustainable Development Goals monitoring framework, is strongly associated with household financial protection; however, the impact of government health budget on the level of prepayment has rarely been discussed. Aims: To address the following research questions. (1) Does a higher government health budget translate into higher prepayment rates in the healthcare financing system? (2) What are the effects of government health budget on public prepayment and private prepaid plans? (3) What are the heterogeneities between groups of countries with different income levels and public health prepayment systems? Methods: Analysis of panel co-integration, impulse response function, and variance decomposition were conducted in 34 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) members for the period 1995-2016. Results: Government health budget has a long-running equilibrium relationship with the level of public and total prepayment. However, a stable relationship could not be confirmed with private prepaid plans. Moreover, government health budget played a significant positive role in explaining the fluctuations in the total and public prepayments over a long time, that is, 51 and 37 periods, respectively. Considering differences between groups of countries, the impacts are greater for those with higher income levels and more public-dominated health-financing systems. Conclusions: Government health budget has a long-time relationship with the levels of both total prepaid expenditure and public prepayment. By contrast, it does not systematically crowd out private prepaid plans.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Eastern Mediterranean health journal. - Cairo
Publication
Cairo : 2021
ISSN
1020-3397
DOI
10.26719/EMHJ.20.108
Volume/pages
27 :1 (2021) , p. 41-49
ISI
000614029700009
Pubmed ID
33538318
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 30.03.2021
Last edited 23.10.2024
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