The effectiveness of the Health Card as an instrument to ensure access to medical care for the poor during the crisis

The Indonesian health card program, which was implemented in response the economic crisis which hit Indonesia in 1998, provided the owners of healthcards with subsidized care at public providers. This papers looks at the impact of this program on outpatient care utilization. It finds that the program resulted in a net increase in utilization for the poor beneficiaries. For non-poor beneficiaries the program resulted in a substitution from private to public providers only. However, the largest effect of the program seems to have come from a general increase in the quality of public services resulting from the budgetary support they received through this program. 1. World Bank. The views expressed in this paper reflect those of the authors and not necessarily those of the World Bank. 2. Free University Amsterdam. Correspondence to: Menno Pradhan, World Bank office Jakarta, Jakarta Stock Exchange Building Tower 2, 12th floor, Jl jenderal Sudirman Kav 52-53, Jakarta 12190 Indonesia, [email protected]