Ability to pay for health care: concepts and evidence
Abstract
In many developing countries people are expected to contribute to the cost of health care from their own pockets. As a result, the ability to pay (ATP) for health care, or the affordability of health care, has become a critical policy issue in developing countries, and a particularly urgent issue where households face combined user fee burdens from various essential service sectors such as health, education and water. Research and policy debates have focused on willingness to pay (WTP) for essential services, and have tended to assume that WTP is synonymous with ATP. This paper questions this assumption, and suggests that WTP may not reflect ATP. Households may persist in paying for care, but to mobilize resources they may sacrifice other basic needs such as food and education, with serious consequences for the household or individuals within it.
Citation
Health Policy & Planning (1996) 113): 219-237 [doi:10.1093/heapol/11.3.219]