Leg ulcer management is complex, time-consuming and of high socio-economic importance. Data on cost-of-illness in leg ulcer care are sparse. The objective of this study was to evaluate the cost-of-illness in leg ulcer treatment in the metropolitan area of Hamburg. About 147 institutions involved in wound care participated in a cross-sectional study. Patients consecutively recruited underwent a ...

BACKGROUND With an estimated adult HIV prevalence of 15%, Namibia is in need of innovative health financing strategies that can alleviate the burden on the public sector. Affordable and private health insurances were recently developed in Namibia, and they include coverage for HIV/AIDS. This article reports on the efficacy of HIV workplace surveys as a tool to increase uptake of these insurance...

BACKGROUND Financial barriers are a recognized major bottleneck of access and use of health services. The aim of this study was to assess effectiveness of a community based health insurance (CBHI) scheme on utilization of health services as well as on mortality and morbidity. METHODS Data were collected from April to December 2007 from the Nouna's Demographic Surveillance System on overall mo...

INTRODUCTION The Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the 2006 Massachusetts (MA) health reform law, on which the ACA was based, aimed to improve the affordability of care largely by expanding publicly sponsored insurances. Both laws also aimed to promote consumer understanding of how to acquire, maintain and use these public plans. A prior study found an association between the level of cost-sharing ...

Due to the impact of rising expenditures for the delivery of high-standard health care, further efforts supporting evidence-based, cost-efficient and patient-centered management in oncology are advised. This also concerns the treatment of patients with breast cancer. Reimbursement of diagnostic and/or therapeutic innovations in oncologic health care within the compulsory health insurances (CHIs...

Background: Studies have shown that people using complementary health insurances have more access to health services than others. In the present study, we aimed at finding the differences between out- of- pocket payments and health service utilizations in complementary health insurances (CHIs) users and nonusers. Methods: Propensity score matching was used to compare the 2 groups. First, confou...

"This paper discusses the redistributive impact of the Dutch social security system on lifetime basis. Net benefits appear to be positive for the birth generations up to 1960. Social insurances show a declining net benefit, whereas for occupational pensions the reverse holds. It is generally assumed that flat-rated social security schemes are more redistributive ones than wage-related scheme...