Demographic Correlates of Catastrophic Health Expenditure: An Assessment from Indian Household Survey Data

This study finds out the importance of socio-economic, demographic and health-care-related factors in determining catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) of a household and how they influence its health care expenditure. Rising out-of-pocket (OOP) expenses for health financing in developing countries with different methodologies to assess the associated factors with CHE has been documented. This study contributes to the existing literature from the methodological viewpoint. In the two-step approach, at the first step, the probability of a household incurring CHE has been estimated and in the second the importance of the determinants of health expenditure is examined. An analysis is done to find out whether the situation varies across the quintiles. The database is the 71st round of social consumption of health survey conducted by the NSSO during January-June 2014. Health expenditure in household budgets is the highest among the poorest quintile. Treating a non-communicable disease and opting for private facilities are expensive. Relaxing the budget constraint by financing the healthcare from sources like contributions from friends/relatives and sale of assets lead to high spending on healthcare. The study recommends health expenditure protection schemes for the vulnerable groups, etc.