Economic Research Forum.

Abstract EN

The Turkish health care system has been subject to major reform during the last five years. During the reform process, access to private and public providers was eased for public insurees.

Despite the importance of the reform, there is no rigorous study of the reform’s impact on health expenditures and access.

This study analyzes a rich dataset on healthcare expenditures to look into the presence and size of out-of-pocket (OOP) health expenditures. The study uses Household Budget Surveys from 2003 to 2006, which provide a range of individual and household level data, as well as aggregate and detailed health care expenditures.

Using econometric methods we analyze the presence of health expenditures, the share of health expenditures in total monthly expenditures and the level of health expenditures.

Results show that the ratio of households with non-zero OOP expenditure has increased with the reforms, but the share and level of OOP expenditures have decreased.

In addition, the impact is different across income levels.

The results of a semi-parametric analysis show that wealthier individuals have benefited more in terms of the decrease in OOP health expenditures.