Costa Rica: Survey for Health-related out-of-pocket expenses gives Evidence for Strategic Decision-making.
Estimation Year
2006
Intended Policy Goals
Costa Rica has had a health system for the last 60 years where the population has benefited from a system where the principles of equity, solidarity in the financing and universal coverage, prevail. However, during the past few years, events have occured which could be considered indicators of deterioration in the quality of services delivered, such as: ever-increasing waiting times for referral to a specialist physician or for surgical procedures and an increment in the use of private consults even among populations which live in a poor economic situation and who must get loans to pay for these private medical consultations.
Actual Policy Use
In view of the aforementioned reality and as part of the 2006 National Health Accounts, Costa Rica carried out a survey which calculated out-of-pocket expenditures in private health-care facilities at a national level. The main results of the above survey were that while 82% of the population had some type of health insurance, a full 9% paid for private health care out-of-pocket.
In particular, 31.3% of the households received at least one private medical consult and 26.4% of these homes had at least one member of the family who indicated having received private dental care. In addition, 9.5% of the households payed for a private diagnostic or laboratory exam. Regarding private expenses in buying medicines or drugs, 75% of the households bought some form of medicine during the period in which the survey was conducted (between January and April of 2006).
The out-of-pocket expenditures observed as part of the NHA analysis gave health authorities the necessary evidence to create a specialized unit in the Ministry of Health called the Directorate to Guarantee Access to Quality Health Services to better address the emerging needs of households in the private sector.
Source
Ministy of Health
