Financial protection for health care expenses provided by public and private systems in Chile Protección financiera en salud: Evolución y comparación del gasto de bolsillo de los hogares Chilenos

Abstract

© 2018, Sociedad Medica de Santiago. All rights reserved. Background: People need a financial protection system to face the high costs of health care. Aim: To compare the financial protection between households affiliated to the Chilean public health financing system (FONASA) or to a private health financing system (ISAPRE). To describe the evolution of protection at the national level between 2007 and 2012. Material and Methods: As proposed by the World Bank, impact indicators to measure the equity and efficiency of the insurance systems were generated. Namely, average out-of-pocket expenses by insurance and average out-of-pocket spending as a percentage of expenditure. Also, the evolution of out-of-pocket spending by quintiles and Gini Coefficient were measured as measure of equity. To determine these, Family Budget Surveys for 2007 and 2012 were used. Results: Household out-of-pocket spending increased by 14.12%. When expressed as a percentage of total expenditure, it grew from 5.6%