Catastrophic health expenditure and impoverishment in Mongolia

• Published in: International journal for equity in health 2016-07, Vol.15 (1), p.105-105, Article 105
• Main Authors: Dorjdagva, Javkhlanbayar, Batbaatar, Enkhjargal, Svensson, Mikael, Dorjsuren, Bayarsaikhan, Kauhanen, Jussi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analysis; Budgets; care; Catastrophic health expenditure; Cost control; Delivery of Health Care - economics; Environmental & Occupational Health; Expenditures; Families & family life; Family Characteristics; Female; Financial protection; Financing, Personal; Funding; Health Expenditures; Health insurance; Health Sciences; Hospitals; Households; Humans; Hälsovetenskaper; Impoverishment; inequalities; Informal economy; Insurance coverage; Insurance, Health; Low income groups; Male; Management; Medical care; Medical care, Cost of; Mongolia; payments; Population; Poverty; Primary care; Public; Studies; Surveys and Questionnaires; User fees
• ISSN: 1475-9276; 1475-9276
• DOI: 10.1186/s12939-016-0395-8

The social health insurance coverage is relatively high in Mongolia; however, escalation of out-of-pocket payments for health care, which reached 41 % of the total health expenditure in 2011, is a policy concern. The aim of this study is to analyse the incidence of catastrophic health expenditures and to measure the rate of impoverishment from health care payments under the social health insurance scheme in Mongolia. We used the data from the Household Socio-Economic Survey 2012, conducted by the National Statistical Office of Mongolia. Catastrophic health expenditures are defined an excess of out-of-pocket payments for health care at the various thresholds for household total expenditure (capacity to pay). For an estimate of the impoverishment effect, the national and The Wold Bank poverty lines are used. About 5.5 % of total households suffered from catastrophic health expenditures, when the threshold is 10 % of the total household expenditure. At the threshold of 40 % of capacity to pay, 1.1 % of the total household incurred catastrophic health expenditures. About 20,000 people were forced into poverty due to paying for health care. Despite the high coverage of social health insurance, a significant proportion of the population incurred catastrophic health expenditures and was forced into poverty due to out-of-pocket payments for health care.