Out-of-pocket household health expenditures and their use in National Health Accounts: Evidence from Pakistan
by Christian Lorenz
Centre for International Migration and Development
Asia Health Policy Program working paper #9, June 2009
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Out-of-pocket (OoP) household health expenditures are among the most difficult factors to measure in the context of National Health Accounts (NHA). Yet their measurement is important: OoP household expenditures are typically the first or second largest source of health care financing in developing countries. Their incorrect measurement can undermine the credibility of total health spending estimates and thus NHA statistics, which are an otherwise important resource for policy makers. This paper focuses on OoP household health expenditures in Pakistan’s NHA and suggests steps toward estimating such expenditures more effectively.
