OBJECTIVE To determine costs related to living with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and to identify the association between health status-as measured by the Health Status Questionnaire short form-36 (SF-36) and the disease specific index Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ)-and the social impact of RA. METHODS A prospective cohort study was carried out on 81 patients with RA who completed four co...

UNLABELLED BACKGROUND Health care expenditure has been low over the years in developing regions of the world. A majority of countries in these regions, especially sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), rely on donor grants and loans to finance health care. Such expenditures are not only unsustainable but also inadequate considering the enormous health care burden in the region. The objectives of this stu...

In recent years, prescription drug expenditures in the United States have increased rapidly. In 2003, spending on prescription medications totaled $179.2 billion dollars, or approximately 11% of national health expenditures [Smith, C., Cowan, C., Sensenig, A., Catlin, A., the Health Accounts Team. (2005). Health spending growth slows in 2003. Health Affairs, 24 (1) 185-194]. In response to rapi...

The United States spent an estimated $287 billion for health care in 1981 (Figure 1), an amount equal to 9.8 percent of the Gross National Product (GNP). Highlights of the figures that underly this estimate include the following: Health care expenditures continued to grow at a rapid rate in 1981, at a time when the economy as a whole exhibited sluggish growth. The 9.8 percent share of the GNP w...

OBJECTIVE To assess expenditures and the profile of beneficiaries of a private health plan and the impact of these expenditures on the finances of both the plan and of beneficiaries. METHODS Descriptive study including 64,219 customers of a health insurance plan of the State of São Paulo in the year of 2003. The characteristics of high spenders were assessed according to age group, gender, ty...

This paper aims at investigating whether or not a utilitarian social planner should subsidize longevity-enhancing expenditures in an economy with a PAYG pension system. For that purpose, a simple two-period OLG model is developed, in which the length of the second period of life can be raised by private health spendings. Focussing on the steady-state, it is shown that the sign of the optimal su...

background: inequality in households’ and individuals' consumption expenditures is one of the most important aspects of health status difference among households and individuals. objectives: we investigated the impact of some macro-economic factors specially inequality factors on the iranian rural health status since 1986 through 2012. patients and methods: we conducted a longitudinal ecologica...

The United States spent an estimated $247 billion for health care in 1980 (Figure 1), an amount equal to 9.4 percent of the Gross National Product (GNP). Highlights of the figures that underlie this estimate include the following: Health care expenditures in 1980 accelerated at a time when the economy as a whole exhibited sluggish growth. The 9.4 percent share of the GNP was a dramatic increase...

Policymakers in countries around the world are faced with rising health care costs and are debating ways to reform health care to reduce expenditures. Estimates of price elasticity of expenditure are a key component for predicting expenditures under alternative policies. Using unique individual-level data compiled from administrative records from the Chilean private health insurance market, I e...

BACKGROUND There is need for new information about the socio-economic and geographic differences in health seeking and expenditures on many health conditions, so to help to design interventions that will reduce inequity in utilisation of healthcare services and ensure universal coverage. OBJECTIVES The paper contributes additional knowledge about health seeking and economic burden of differen...