User-fee-removal improves equity of children's health care utilization and reduces families' financial burden: evidence from Jamaica.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The impact of user-fee policies on the equity of health care utilization and households' financial burdens has remained largely unexplored in Latin American and the Caribbean, as well as in upper-middle-income countries. This paper assesses the short- and long-term impacts of Jamaica's user-fee-removal for children in 2007.

Methods

This study utilizes 14 rounds of data from the Jamaica Survey of Living Conditions (JSLC) for the periods 1996 to 2012. JSLC is a national household survey, which collects data on health care utilization and among other purposes for planning. Interrupted time series (ITS) analysis was used to examine the immediate impact of the user-fee-removal policy on children's health care utilization and households' financial burdens, as well as th

SUBMITTER: Li Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5481893 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature