Did health reform improve financial protection for disadvantaged groups in Ecuador? A socio-economic inequality assessment of catastrophic health expenditures 2006-2014.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Latin American countries have long struggled with socioeconomic inequalities and health equity. In 2007, Ecuador implemented a health reform to address these issues by making public health services free, coordinating finances between subsystems and increasing the state's health budget. This study evaluates whether Ecuador's health system reform (2007-2017) reduced out-of-pocket (OOP) health spending, catastrophic health spending (CHS) and socioeconomic inequalities in CHS.

Design

Cross-sectional study.

Setting

Secondary data available of households from the 2006 and 2014 National Living Standards Measurement surveys.

Methods

Descriptive statistics (means and medians) and log-binomial regression were applied to assess prevalence of OOP and socioeconom

SUBMITTER: Quizhpe Ordonez E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12314978 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature