Catastrophic and Impoverishing Expenditure: a study for Argentina

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Financial protection in health implies access to health services for anyone needing them without financial difficulties. Such protection is estimated through indicators such as catastrophic and impoverishing health spending. The objective of this work was to estimate these indicators for Argentina in 2017-2018. METHODS: By processing data from the National Household Expenditure Survey of 2017-2018 (ENGHo), health spending variables and indicators of catastrophic and impoverishing health spending were constructed and analyzed. A comparison was also made with the ENGHo 2004-2005. RESULTS: Households allocated 6.4% of their total expenditure to health goods and services, and 4.9% of their total income. According to ENGHo 2017-2018, with a threshold of 10%, 11.4% of households incurred catastrophic health spending, a value that dropped to 3.3% considering a 25% threshold. Compared with 2004-2005, catastrophic health spending fell regardless of the chosen threshold. Due to out-of-pocket health expenditure, households below the poverty line increased by 1.8 percentage points. DISCUSSION: The decrease in catastrophic health spending between the analyzed periods may be showing progress towards a stronger financial protection in the country. The analysis reveals the importance of having data about need, use and expenditure on health services, to achieve a better understanding of this issue.