Description: Health Insurance for the Poor : Initial Impacts of Vietnam's Health Care Fund for the Poor

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Health Insurance for the Poor : Initial Impacts of Vietnam's Health Care Fund for the Poor

Vietnam's Health Care Fund for the Poor (HCFP) uses government revenues to finance health care for the poor, ethnic minorities living in selected mountainous provinces designated as difficult, and all households living in communes officially d...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Wagstaff, Adam
Language:	English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2012
Subjects:	CLINICS COMMUNES DRESSINGS ESSENTIAL DRUGS FINANCIAL PROTECTION FREE CARE HEALTH CARE HEALTH CARE FINANCE HEALTH CENTERS HEALTH FACILITIES HEALTH INSURANCE HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAM HEALTH INSURANCE SCHEME HEALTH SERVICES HEALTH SPENDING HOMES HOSPITALS HOUSEHOLD INCOME HOUSEHOLDS HOUSING INCOME DISTRIBUTION INCOME GROUPS INFORMAL PAYMENTS INFORMAL SECTOR INPATIENT CARE INSURANCE COVERAGE MEDICAL EQUIPMENT MEDICINES NATIONAL HEALTH OUTPATIENT CARE PATIENTS PHARMACIES POCKET PAYMENTS POCKET PAYMENTS FOR HEALTH CARE POLICY RESEARCH PRESCRIPTION DRUGS PRIVATE SECTOR PROBABILITY PUBLIC HOSPITALS RESEARCH PROGRAM SOCIAL HEALTH INSURANCE SOCIAL SECURITY URBAN AREAS VISITS WORKERS
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2007/02/7368143/health-insurance-poor-initial-impacts-vietnams-health-care-fund-poor http://hdl.handle.net/10986/7170

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Summary:	Vietnam's Health Care Fund for the Poor (HCFP) uses government revenues to finance health care for the poor, ethnic minorities living in selected mountainous provinces designated as difficult, and all households living in communes officially designated as highly disadvantaged. The program, which started in 2003, did not as of 2004 include all these groups, but those who were included (about 15 percent of the population) were disproportionately poor. Estimates of the program's impact-obtained using single differences and propensity score matching on a trimmed sample-suggest that HCFP has substantially increased service utilization, especially in-patient care, and has reduced the risk of catastrophic spending. It has not, however, reduced average out-of-pocket spending, and appears to have had negligible impacts on utilization among the poorest decile.