Public Spending on Health Care and the Poor

IMF Working Papers, September 1, 2001

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Public Spending on Health Care and the Poor

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Bibliographic details

• Authors: Marijn Verhoeven, Sanjeev Gupta, Erwin H Tiongson
• Published: September 1, 2001
• Series: IMF Working Papers
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781451854985.001

Main findings

• The paper estimates the impact of public spending on the poor's health status in over 70 countries.
• The poor have significantly worse health status than the rich.
• The poor are more favorably affected by public spending on health care than the rich.
• The relationship between public spending and the health status of the poor is stronger in low-income countries than in higher-income countries.
• Increased public spending alone will not be sufficient to meet international commitments for improvements in health status.

Data, scope, and methods (as described)

• Coverage: over 70 countries.
• Focus variables and concepts: child mortality rate, infant mortality, live births, poverty, poverty line, DHS asset quintile data, subgroup means.
• Empirical approach: results reference the lin-log regression (as a reported method).

Policy implications and interpretation

• Public spending on health care has a propoor effect: it benefits the poor disproportionately relative to the rich.
• The propoor impact is more pronounced in low-income countries, implying country-income-level context matters for spending effectiveness.
• Policymakers should note that scaling up public spending is beneficial for the poor but is unlikely, by itself, to fulfill international health improvement commitments; complementary measures are implied.

Publication and metadata

• Title: Public Spending on Health Care and the Poor
• Authors: Marijn Verhoeven, Sanjeev Gupta, Erwin H Tiongson
• Publication date: September 1, 2001
• Series: IMF Working Paper No. 2001/127
• Issue: 127
• Volume: 2001
• Pages: 39
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781451854985.001
• ISBN: 9781451854985
• ISSN: 1018-5941
• Subjects: Education, Expenditure, Health, Health care, Health care spending
• Keywords: Asia and Pacific, child mortality rate, DHS asset quintile data, effect of public spending, health, Health care, Health care spending, infant mortality, live births, mortality rate, poverty, poverty line, propoor public spending, public spending, public spending matter, results of the lin-log regression, Sub-Saharan Africa, subgroup means, WP

IMF Working Paper — Public Spending on Health Care and the Poor (Working Paper No. 2001/127).

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• Public Spending on Health Care and the Poor - WP/01/127
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