Out of pocket payments in the eyes of health care users: expected effects are high, actual effects are limited.
Reitsma-van Rooijen, M., Jong, J.D. de. Out of pocket payments in the eyes of health care users: expected effects are high, actual effects are limited. Eurohealth: 2015, 21(2), p. 27-30.
Out-of-pocket (OOP) payments are often introduced to reduce health care expenditures. The assumption is that OOP payments result in less health care use, therefore lower expenditure.
However, the effects of OOP payments appear to be limited and they have adverse effects. Variants of OOP payments are being considered by several governments in order to address these problems; however, in the Netherlands the current OOP payment system has limited effect. This is possibly due to a lack of knowledge, the limited influence people have on their health care use, and the fact that people rarely judge this use as unnecessary.
Out-of-pocket (OOP) payments are often introduced to reduce health care expenditures. The assumption is that OOP payments result in less health care use, therefore lower expenditure.
However, the effects of OOP payments appear to be limited and they have adverse effects. Variants of OOP payments are being considered by several governments in order to address these problems; however, in the Netherlands the current OOP payment system has limited effect. This is possibly due to a lack of knowledge, the limited influence people have on their health care use, and the fact that people rarely judge this use as unnecessary.
Head research department Organisation and Management in Healthcare; coordinator research program Healthcare System and Governance; endowed professor 'Health services research' at the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences (FHML) of Maastricht ...
