Noncommunicable Diseases and Gender Gap in Out-of-pocket Spending on Inpatient Health Care: An Investigation of Indian Elderly

The present study intends to examine whether there exists any gender gap in out-of-pocket spending on hospitalization between elderly men and elderly women. Data were drawn from the NSS 75th Round Health Care Survey (2017-2018) consisting of a total number of 45,299 elderly. Bivariate analysis and t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Indian journal of public health 2023-10, Vol.67 (4), p.538-541
Main Authors: Chatterjee, Chandrima, Biswas, Ashish Kumar
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Analysis
Anemia
Bivariate analysis
Chronic illnesses
Disease
elderly
Female
Female-male relations
Gender
Gender aspects
Gender differences
gender gap
Health care
Health care expenditures
Health Care Surveys
Health Expenditures - statistics & numerical data
health spending
Hospitalization - economics
Hospitalization - statistics & numerical data
Households
Humans
India
Inpatient care
Male
Medical economics
Men
Middle Aged
noncommunicable diseases
Noncommunicable Diseases - economics
Noncommunicable Diseases - epidemiology
Older people
out-of-pocket
Rural areas
Sex Factors
Socioeconomic Factors
Surveys
Women
Womens health
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Summary:The present study intends to examine whether there exists any gender gap in out-of-pocket spending on hospitalization between elderly men and elderly women. Data were drawn from the NSS 75th Round Health Care Survey (2017-2018) consisting of a total number of 45,299 elderly. Bivariate analysis and t-test were used to examine the disease burden and gender gap in health spending. The burden of noncommunicable diseases such as bone disease and anemia is considerably higher among elderly women than elderly men. There is a significant, positive gender gap in inpatient health spending, especially in the rural area across various diseases. Lower level of awareness, male dominance in health-related decision-making, and financial dependence are some possible factors for the gender gap. Generating awareness among households and particularly among women regarding health-care system, chronic diseases, and sources of health financing along with formulating disease-specific policy may reduce the gender gap in health spending.
ISSN:0019-557X
2229-7693
DOI:10.4103/ijph.ijph_1551_22