How effective and fair is user fee removal? Evidence from Zambia using a pooled synthetic control.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Lepine A
PROVIDER: S-EPMC5900920 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
How effective and fair is user fee removal? Evidence from Zambia using a pooled synthetic control.
Lépine Aurélia A Lagarde Mylène M Le Nestour Alexis A
Health economics 20171016 3
Despite its high political interest, the impact of removing user charges for health care in low-income settings remains a debatable issue. We try to clear up this contentious issue by estimating the short-term effects of a policy change that occurred in 2006 in Zambia, when 54 of 72 districts removed fees. We use a pooled synthetic control method in order to estimate the causal impact of the policy on health care use, the provider chosen, and out-of-pocket medical expenses. We find no evidence t ...[more]
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