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Individuals diagnosed with breast cancer have the highest rates of survival among all cancer types. Due to high survival, the costs of breast cancer to different healthcare funders are of interest. This study aimed to describe the cost to public hospital and private health funders and individuals due to hospital and emergency department (ED) admissions, as well Medicare items and pharmaceuticals over five years for Queensland women with breast cancer. We used a linked administrative dataset, CancerCostMod, limited to Queensland female breast cancer diagnoses between July 2011 and June 2013 aged 18 years or over who survived for 5 years (n = 5383). Each record was linked to Queensland Health Admitted Patient Data Collection, Emergency Department Information Systems, Medicare Benefits Schedule, and Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme records between July 2011 and June 2018. Total costs for different healthcare funders as a result of breast cancer diagnoses were reported, with high costs and service use identified in the first six months following a breast cancer diagnosis. After the first six months post-diagnosis, the financial burdens incurred by different healthcare funders for breast cancer diagnoses in Queensland remain steady over a long period. Recommendations for reducing long term costs are discussed.

Background: In all countries, health expenditures are a main part of government expenditure, and governments try to find policies and strategies to reduce this expenditure. Overall expenditure index has been raised 30 times during the past 20 years in Iran, while in the health sector, the growth in health expenditures index has been 71 times. The present study aimed at examining health care expenditure in the Islamic Republic of Iran versus other high spending countries. Methods: A comparative panel study was conducted in selected countries with the high mean of health expenditure per capita. Data were collected from the WORLD BANK. Out- of- pocket (OOP), health expenditure per capita, public and private health expenditure, and total health expenditure were compared among the selected counties. Results: Iran has the lowest health expenditure per capita compared to other countries and the USA has the highest health expenditures per capita. In Iran, out- of- pocket expenditure, with more than 50%, was the most cost, while in Luxembourg it was the least cost during 2004 to 2014, with less than 12%. Conclusion: Our findings revealed that politicians and health care executives should find a stable source to finance the health system. Stable sources of financing lead to having a steady trend in health expenditure.

Agricultural work all over the world is hazardous, resulting in a large number of injuries tofarmers or even death. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), the agriculturalsector is one of the most hazardous to health worldwide (ILO, 2000). Olatunji et al. (2013)pointed out that the productivity of farmers is affected by some occupational hazards and healthproblems such as Malaria, musculoskeletal disorders, farm injuries, yellow fever, Diarrhoeadiseases, respiratory diseases and skin disorder (Olatunji SO, 2013). They usually get low wages,conditions of work put an excessive burden on them, and the employment which they irregular.Their income is low, and employment is unequal. Since they possess no skill or training; theyhave no alternative job opportunities either. Health system in our country is bogged down withsome of chronic maladies like inappropriate budgetary allocation and a “top-down” hierarchywith multiple levels of operation which have led to compromise in effectiveness and quality of the services. Out of pocket expenditure becomes a burden for the poor especially when theyhave to spend vast amounts from their disposable income. The financial burden borne by peoplewith healthcare and their families as a result of their disease depends on their economic status.In the poorest countries, people with health and their families bear almost the whole cost of themedical care they can afford. Besides excess healthcare expenditure, chronic diseases imposegreat economic burdens in the form of loss of productivity and foregone economic growth.

Introduction: Measurement of financial support for health services is determined by household out of pocket expenditure for health which is associated with two approaches: catastrophic and impoverishing health expenditures. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the catastrophic and impoverishing health expenditure in Tehran urban population. Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Tehran in 2013. The data were collected through interview and observation using a household expenditure questionnaire. In order to estimate the effects of factors affecting catastrophic health expenditure and impoverishing health expenditure, data analysis was done using Pearson test, one variable and multivariate logistic models, Excel and STATA Software. Results: According to the finding 2.4% of households fell below the poverty line, 6.7% of families households had to pay out of pocket, and 3.8% were identified as facing catastrophic health expenditures as a result of out-of-pocket payment for health. Conclusion: There are some key factors influencing health expenditure, such as head of household education level, the presence of people over 60 years in household, the use of inpatient services and the volume of use. Therefore, it is recommended that health policy makers and insurance organizations implement health insurance plans and reduce the health services tariff and out of pocket expenditure on health. Keywords: Out of Pocket, Catastrophic Health Expenditures, Impoverishing Health Expenditures.

Background Sufficient and sustainable financing of the health system is essential for improving the health of the community. The health systems financing of the EMR countries is facing the challenge. Assessment and ranking of healthcare financing can help identify and resolve some challenges of health systems. So, the aim of this study is to evaluate and rank the condition of the health sector financing in the EMR countries. Methods This study was a cross-sectional study. The data was of secondary type, extracted from the official WHO and World Bank data. The six healthcare financing indicators in a 10-year interval (2005–2014) in 19 EMR countries analyzed using Grey Relation Analysis and Shannon Entropy. Results On average, the countries in the EMR region spent 4.87% of their GDP on the health sector. Jordan and Qatar allocated the highest (8.313) and the lowest (2.293) percentages of their GDP to the health sector, respectively. The results showed That Qatar was in a better condition than other EMR countries during 2005–2014 in terms of the health system financing and earned the first rank. After that, the UAE and Kuwait were ranked second and third. Conclusions There is a lot of inequality among the EMR countries in terms of health financing. However, our findings confirmed that only increasing the total health expenditure in a country would not improve its financing status compared to other countries, but it also depends on financing methods.

Background: Equity in delivery and distribution of health care is an important determinant of health and a cornerstone in the long way to social justice. We performed a comparative analysis of the prevalence of Italian and British residents who have fully paid out-of-pocket for health services which they could have obtained free of charge or at a lower cost from their respective National Health Services. Methods: Cross-sectional study based on a standardized questionnaire survey carried out in autumn 2006 among two representative samples (n = 1000) of the general population aged 20–74 years in each of the two countries. Results: 78% (OR 19.9; 95% CI 15.5–25.6) of Italian residents have fully paid out-of-pocket for at least one access to health services in their lives, and 45% (OR 18.1; 95% CI 12.9–25.5) for more than five accesses. Considering only the last 2 years, 61% (OR 16.5; 95% CI 12.6–21.5) of Italians have fully paid out-of-pocket for at least one access. The corresponding pattern for British residents is 20 and 4% for lifelong prevalence, and 10% for the last 2 years. Conclusions: Opening the public health facilities to a privileged private access to all hospital physicians based on patient’s ability to pay, as Italy does, could be a source of social inequality in access to care and could probably represent a major obstacle to decreasing waiting times for patients in the standard formal ‘free of charge’ way of access.

usc The exclusion of community-prescribed medication from Canada’s package of universal health care is an anomaly that deserves the attention it has received over the past 25 years and more. The reliance on direct payments in the form of out-of-pocket costs poses a substantial barrier to accessing effective drugs in Canada, and this quite likely poses substantial downstream economic pressures on the health system

Background: Social health insurance in Indonesia is carried by social insurance mechanism aims to provide social security protection to the community so their basic health needs can be met adequately. Social insurance is expected to increase access and utilization of health services as well as reducing the risk of out-of-pocket expenditure (OOP) that resulting in catastrophic expenditures and poverty. Objective: To analyze the utilization of inpatient care, health insurance and hospitalization OOP expense ratio based on living area, type of health facility and type of social health insurance in Eastern Indonesia. Methods: This study uses secondary data analysis using Indonesian Family Life Survey East 2012 data. This is a quantitative approach using cross-sectional design, and multivariate analysis using linear regression at 95% confidence level. Results: The use of hospitalization in Eastern Indonesia by insurance users is 54.6%, while those who do not use insurance is 45.4%. A total of 24.6% insurance owner do not use insurance at the time of hospitalization. Multivariate analysis showed no significant difference in the cost of hospitalization OOP based living area and type of health facility. OOP costs of hospitalization for Jamsostek/other members were higher than Askes and Jamkesmas members. Conclusion: The government needs to implement a social health insurance system that is of a better quality and comprehensive in order to protect users from the burden of high health care cost. Latar belakang: Jaminan kesehatan sosial di Indonesia dilakukan dengan mekanisme asuransi sosial bertujuan untuk memberi jaminan perlindungan sosial kepada masyarakat agar dapat terpenuhi kebutuhan dasar hidupnya secara layak, khususnya di bidang kesehatan. Asuransi sosial diharapkan dapat meningkatkan akses dan utilisasi pelayanan kesehatan serta mengurangi resiko pengeluaran biaya out of pocket (OOP) yang bisa berdampak pada pengeluaran katastropik serta kemiskinan. Tujuan: Menganalisis pemanfaatan rawat inap, asuransi kesehatan dan perbandingan biaya OOP rawat inap berdasarkan area tinggal, jenis fasilitas kesehatan dan jenis asuransi kesehatan sosial di Indonesia Timur. Metode: Penelitian ini menggunakan metode analisis data sekunder dengan sumber data Indonesian Family Life Survey East 2012. Pendekatan kuantitatif dengan rancangan cross sectional. Analisis multivariat menggunakan regresi linier pada tingkat kepercayaan 95%. Hasil: Pemanfaatan rawat inap di Indonesia Timur oleh pengguna asuransi sebesar 54,6% sedangkan yang tidak menggunakan asuransi sebesar 45,4%. Sebanyak 24,6% pemilik asuransi tidak menggunakan asuransinya pada saat kunjungan rawat inap. Hasil analisis multivariat menunjukkan tidak ada perbedaan biaya OOP rawat inap yang signifikan berdasarkan area tinggal dan jenis fasilitas kesehatan. Biaya OOP rawat inap pengguna Jamsostek/lainnya ternyata lebih tinggi dari pengguna Askes dan Jamkesmas. Kesimpulan: Pemerintah perlu menerapkan sistem asuransi kesehatan sosial yang lebih bermutu dan komprehensif agar dapat melindungi penggunanya dari beban biaya kesehatan yang tinggi, agar utilisasi asuransi kesehatan lebih berkualitas di masa mendatang.

Background Road traffic injuries (RTI) are an increasing public health problem in India where out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditures on health are among the highest in the world. We estimated the OOP expenses for RTI in a large city in India. Methods Information on medical and non-medical expenditure was documented for RTI cases of all ages that reported alive or dead to the emergency departments of two public hospitals and a large private hospital in Hyderabad. Differential risk of catastrophic OOP total expenditure (COPE-T) and medical expenditure (COPE-M), and distress financing was assessed for 723 RTI cases that arrived alive at the study hospitals with multiple logistic regression. Catastrophic expenditure was defined as expenditure > 25% of the RTI patient’s annual household income. Variation in intensity of COPE-M in RTI was assessed using multiple classification analysis (MCA). Results The median OOP medical and non-medical expenditure was USD 169 and USD 163, respectively. The prevalence of COPE-M and COPE-T was 21.9% (95% CI 18.8-24.9) and 46% (95% CI 42–49.3), respectively. Only 22% had access to medical insurance. Being admitted to a private hospital (OR 5.2, 95% CI 2.7–9.9) and not having access to insurance (OR 3.8, 95% CI 1.9–7.6) were significantly associated with risk of having COPE – M. Similar results were seen for COPE - T. MCA analysis showed that the burden of OOP medical expenditure was mainly associated with in-patient days in hospital (Eta =0.191). Prevalence of distress financing was 69% (95% CI 65.5-72.3) with it being significantly higher for those reporting to the public hospitals (OR 2.8, 95% CI 1.7-4.6), those belonging to the lowest per capita annual household income quartile (OR 7.0, 95% CI 3.7-13.3), and for those without insurance access (OR 3.4, 95% CI 2.0-5.7). Conclusions This paper has outlined the high burden of out-of-pocket medical and total expenditure associated with RTI in India. These data reinforce the need for implementing more effective financial protection mechanisms in India against the high out-of-pocket expenditure incurred on RTI.

Uchenna Ekwochi,1 D Chidiebere Osuorah,3 Ikenna K Ndu,1 Osita U Ezenwosu,2 Ogechukwu F Amadi,1 Ikenna C Nwokoye,1 O Israel Odetunde2 1Department of Pediatrics, Enugu State University Teaching Hospital, Parklane, Nigeria; 2Department of Pediatrics, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu, Nigeria; 3Child Survival Unit, Medical Research Council (UK), The Gambia unit, Fajara, The Gambia Background: Neonatal illnesses usually require long hospital stays and specialized care and/or facilities, which usually results in huge medical bills. With more than 70% of people in Nigeria living on less than US$2 per day, these bills are not affordable to many families' livelihoods. Aim: This study aims to determine the average cost of managing neonatal illnesses in Enugu in southeast Nigeria and the proportion of family income spent on these illnesses. It further seeks to ascertain the cost of various components in the management of neonatal diseases. Methods: This is a longitudinal and descriptive study involving 106 newborns admitted to the sick baby unit of the Enugu State University Teaching Hospital and the out-of-pocket medical expenditure in the management of their illnesses. Results: A hundred and six newborns participated in the study. All (100%) medical bills were out-of-pocket payments, and 103 (97.2%) of these were catastrophic health expenditure (more than 10% of total family monthly income). The average duration of hospital stay and cost of managing a neonatal illness was 12.86±8.81 days and ₦36,382±19,389.72 (US$223±119), respectively. This expenditure amounted to 157%, 71%, and 25% of total monthly family income for the low, middle, and upper socioeconomic class families, respectively, with a mean percentage of 85%. Families with a total monthly income of less than ₦10,000 (US$61), ₦10,000–49,999 (US$61–306), and ₦50,000–100,000 (US$306–612) and more than ₦100,000 (US$612) on average spent 683%, 108%, 54%, and 20% of their monthly income on their newborn's illness. Hospital and utility bills compared with bills accruing from drug and laboratory investigations account for a significantly larger proportion of total cost incurred in neonatal sepsis (₦23,499±14,987 [US$144±92], P=0.001), low birth weight (₦39,863±24,003 [US$224±147], P=0.001), severe anemia (₦40,504±13,923 [US$248±85], P=0.001), transient tachypnea of the newborn (₦10,083±1,078 [US$62±7], P=0.001), birth asphyxia (₦24,398±14,096 [US$149±86], P=0.001), and meningitis (₦26,731±7,675 [US$164±47], P=0.001), whereas cost for laboratory investigations was significantly higher for neonatal jaundice (₦11,690±3,169 [US$72±19], P=0.001). There was a strong positive correlation between duration of hospital stay and total medical cost incurred (r=0.897, P=0.001). Conclusion: Health expenditure on neonatal illness is high and leads to catastrophic expenditure for the majority of households in the state. There is a need for effective health insurance schemes to help subsidize and cushion this disastrous and impoverishing health expenditure on families for improved neonatal survival in Nigeria. Keywords: neonatal illness, out of pocket, health expenditure, Enugu State

Background and Objectives: Urban family physician program(UFPP), a program for improving equity in access to, financing, and quality of health services, is piloting in two provinces of Fars and Mazandaran, Iran since 2012. This study aimed to examine the association between the implementation of program and financial protection measures. Methods: This cross-sectional, ecological study was performed on aggregated data of financial protection measures and some independent variables in the above provinces from 2008 to 2015. At first, the Lasso regression model was used for selecting independent variables affecting financial protection indexes. After adjusting the selected independent variables, in separate models, the association between the UFPP and financial protection measures, as outcome variables, was examined using a backward linear regression model. Results: The percentage of households facing catastrophic health expenditure(CHE) in the years of UFPP implementation was 1.82% higher than the years before implementation(P0.05). Conclusion: Despite the achievements attained by UFPP in improving physical access to health services, it seems that this program has had no success in improving financial protection measures and equitable health care financing. However, further research is warranted in this regard.