Household Composition and Inequality in Health Care Financing in Taiwan, 1995-2000
Journal
經濟論文叢刊
Journal Volume
31
Journal Issue
4
Pages
483-505
Date Issued
2003
Author(s)
Abstract
By using the 1995n2000 Survey of Family Income and Expenditure, this study examines changes in the distribution of health care financial burdens among households since the enactment of National Health Insurance (NHI) in 1995. The survey provides household information on health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket health care expenditures. The government subsidy to the NHI was allocated to each household based on two sets of tax incidence assumptions. This study first used total household income to rank households' economic well-being and derive an income inequality index. The study also conducted sensitivity analyses on robustness of the income distribution and income inequality index using both adjusted household size and adult equivalent household income. The large variation in inequality indices observed from using different measures of household economic well-being implies that household composition might affect the distribution of the health care financing burden and its impact might vary over health care financing sources.
SDGs
Type
journal article