Health system costs and days in hospital for colorectal cancer patients in New South Wales, Australia.

INTRODUCTION: Colorectal cancer (CRC) care costs the Australian healthcare system more than any other cancer. We estimated costs and days in hospital for CRC cases, stratified by site (colon/rectal cancer) and disease stage, to inform detailed analyses of CRC-related healthcare. METHODS: Incident CRC patients were identified using the Australian 45 and Up Study cohort linked with cancer registry records. We analysed linked hospital admission records, emergency department records, and reimbursement records for government-subsidised medical services and prescription medicines. Cases' health system costs (2020 Australian dollars) and hospital days were compared with those for cancer-free controls (matched by age, sex, geography, smoking) to estimate excess resources by phase of care, analysed by sociodemographic, health, and disease characteristics. RESULTS: 1200 colon and 546 rectal cancer cases were diagnosed 2006-2013, and followed up to June 2016. Eighty-nine percent of cases had surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy, and excess costs were predominantly for hospitalisations. Initial phase (12 months post-diagnosis) mean excess health system costs were $50,434 for colon and $60,877 for rectal cancer cases, with means of 16 and 18.5 excess hospital days, respectively. The annual continuing mean excess costs were $6,779 (colon) and $8,336 (rectal), with a mean of 2 excess hospital days each. Resources utilised (costs and days) in these phases increased with more advanced disease, comorbidities, and younger age. Mean excess costs in the year before death were $74,952 (colon) and $67,733 (rectal), with means of 34 and 30 excess hospital days, respectively-resources utilised were similar across all characteristics, apart from lower costs for cases aged ≥75 at diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: Health system costs and hospital utilisation for CRC care are greater for people with more advanced disease. These findings provide a benchmark, and will help inform future cost-effectiveness analyses of potential approaches to CRC screening and treatment.

State Spending on Public Benefit Programs and Child Maltreatment.

BACKGROUND: To determine the association between states' total spending on benefit programs and child maltreatment outcomes. METHODS: This was an ecological study of all US states during federal fiscal years 2010-2017. The primary predictor was states' total annual spending on local, state, and federal benefit programs per person living ≤100% federal poverty limit, which was the sum of (1) cash, housing, and in-kind assistance, (2) housing infrastructure, (3) child care assistance, (4) refundable Earned Income Tax Credit, and (5) Medical Assistance Programs. The main outcomes were rates of maltreatment reporting, substantiations, foster care placements, and fatalities after adjustment for relevant confounders. Generalized estimating equations adjusted for federal spending and estimated adjusted incidence rate ratios (IRRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). RESULTS: States' total spending was inversely associated with all maltreatment outcomes. For each additional $1000 states spent on benefit programs per person living in poverty, there was an associated -4.3% (adjusted IRR: 0.9573 [95% CI: 0.9486 to 0.9661]) difference in reporting, -4.0% (adjusted IRR: 0.903 [95% CI: 0.9534 to 0.9672]) difference in substantiations, -2.1% (adjusted IRR: 0.9795 [95% CI: 0.9759 to 0.9832]) difference in foster care placements, and -7.7% (adjusted IRR: 0.9229 [95% CI: 0.9128 to 0.9330]) difference in fatalities. In 2017, extrapolating $1000 of additional spending for each person living in poverty ($46.5 billion nationally, or 13.3% increase) might have resulted in 181 850 fewer reports, 28 575 fewer substantiations, 4168 fewer foster care placements, and 130 fewer fatalities. CONCLUSIONS: State spending on benefit programs was associated with reductions in child maltreatment, which might offset some benefit program costs.

Inaugural Pharmacogenomics Access and Reimbursement Symposium.

The Pharmacogenomics Access & Reimbursement Symposium, a landmark event presented by the Golden Helix Foundation and the Pharmacogenomics Access & Reimbursement Coalition, was a 1-day interactive meeting comprised of plenary keynotes from thought leaders across healthcare that focused on value-based strategies to improve patient access to personalized medicine. Stakeholders including patients, healthcare providers, industry, government agencies, payer organizations, health systems and health policy organizations convened to define opportunities to improve patient access to personalized medicine through best practices, successful reimbursement models, high quality economic evaluations and strategic alignment. Session topics included health technology assessment, health economics, health policy and value-based payment models and innovation.

Does the separating of hospital revenue from drug sales reduce the burden on patients? Evidence from China.

BACKGROUND: Since 2015, all pilot cities of public hospital reform in China have allowed the zero-markup drug policy and implemented the policy of Separating of Hospital Revenue from Drug Sales (SHRDS). The objective of this study is to evaluate whether SHRDS policy reduces the burden on patients, and to identify the mechanism through which SHRDS policy affects healthcare expenditure. METHODS: In this study, we use large sample data of urban employee's healthcare insurance in Chengdu, and adopt the difference in difference model (DID) to estimate the impact of the SHRDS policy on total healthcare expenditures and drug expenditure of patients, and to provide empirical evidence for deepening medical and health system reform in China. RESULTS: After the SHRDS policy's implementation, the total healthcare expenditure kept growing, but the growth rate slowed down between 2014 to 2015. The total healthcare expenditure of patients decreased by only 0.6%, the actual reimbursement expenditure of patients decreased by 4.1%, the reimbursement ratio decreased by 2.6%. and the drugs expenditure dropped by 14.4%. However, the examinations expenditure increased by 18.2%, material expenditure increased significantly by 38.5%, and nursing expenditure increased by 12.7%. CONCLUSIONS: After implementing the SHRDS policy, the significant reduction in drug expenditure led to more physicians inducing patients' healthcare service needs, and the increased social healthcare burden was partially transferred to the patients' personal economic burden through the decline in the reimbursement ratio. The SHRDS policy is not an effective way to control healthcare expenditure.

PARC report: a health-systems focus on reimbursement and patient access to pharmacogenomics testing.

Pharmacogenomics test coverage and reimbursement are major obstacles to clinical uptake. Several early adopter programs have been successfully initiated through dedicated investments by federal and institutional research funding. As a result of research endeavors, evidence has grown sufficiently to support development of pharmacogenomics guidelines. However, clinical uptake is still limited. Third-party payer support plays an important role in increasing adoption, which to date has been limited to reactive single-gene testing. Access to and interest in direct-to-consumer genetic testing are driving demand for increasing healthcare providers and third-party awareness of this burgeoning field. Pharmacogenomics implementation models developed by early adopters promise to expand patient access and options, as testing continues to increase due to growing consumer interest and falling test prices.

Fraudster's and victims' profiles and loss predictors' hierarchy in the mental healthcare industry in the US.

BACKGROUND: Fraud- or theft-related crimes account for the highest number of crimes in the mental health industry in the US. AIM: This exploratory study aims to demonstrate a fraudster's and respective victims' profiles as well as to identify the loss predictors' hierarchy in the mental health industry in the US. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The Psychiatric Crime database and mixed-effects models are utilized for this purpose. RESULTS: A typical fraudster's profile is defined as a 53-year old male psychiatrist who victimizes one or two of the largest federal insurance programs in states with high property crime ratios. The results revealed the year and state where the fraud is prosecuted explain the largest portion of the variance in loss size. Predictably, case-specific factors also have a significant impact on the loss. Specifically, Medicaid, the existence of collusion, and fraudster's age are associated with the fraud loss. CONCLUSIONS: This study empirically justifies considering loss, due to healthcare fraud, from a multi-level perspective. Identified typical fraudster's and respective victim's profiles helped to elaborate on specific practical recommendations aimed at fraud prevention in the mental healthcare system in the US.

The influence of corruption and governance in the delivery of frontline health care services in the public sector: a scoping review of current and future prospects in low and middle-income countries of south and south-east Asia.

BACKGROUND: The dynamic intersection of a pluralistic health system, large informal sector, and poor regulatory environment have provided conditions favourable for 'corruption' in the LMICs of south and south-east Asia region. 'Corruption' works to undermine the UHC goals of achieving equity, quality, and responsiveness including financial protection, especially while delivering frontline health care services. This scoping review examines current situation regarding health sector corruption at frontlines of service delivery in this region, related policy perspectives, and alternative strategies currently being tested to address this pervasive phenomenon. METHODS: A scoping review following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) was conducted, using three search engines i.e., PubMed, SCOPUS and Google Scholar. A total of 15 articles and documents on corruption and 18 on governance were selected for analysis. A PRISMA extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) checklist was filled-in to complete this report. Data were extracted using a pre-designed template and analysed by 'mixed studies review' method. RESULTS: Common types of corruption like informal payments, bribery and absenteeism identified in the review have largely financial factors as the underlying cause. Poor salary and benefits, poor incentives and motivation, and poor governance have a damaging impact on health outcomes and the quality of health care services. These result in high out-of-pocket expenditure, erosion of trust in the system, and reduced service utilization. Implementing regulations remain constrained not only due to lack of institutional capacity but also political commitment. Lack of good governance encourage frontline health care providers to bend the rules of law and make centrally designed anti-corruption measures largely in-effective. Alternatively, a few bottom-up community-engaged interventions have been tested showing promising results. The challenge is to scale up the successful ones for measurable impact. CONCLUSIONS: Corruption and lack of good governance in these countries undermine the delivery of quality essential health care services in an equitable manner, make it costly for the poor and disadvantaged, and results in poor health outcomes. Traditional measures to combat corruption have largely been ineffective, necessitating the need for innovative thinking if UHC is to be achieved by 2030.

Influence of publicly funded conditional cash transfer programms on utilization patterns of healthcare services for acute childhood illness.

BACKGROUND: Conditional cash transfers are widespread and effective for utilization of targeted health services, but there is little evidence of their influence on the utilization of non-targeted or extended general healthcare services. Using data from a population-based health utilization survey, we evaluated the influence of conditional cash transfers for maternal and immunization services on the utilization of healthcare services for acute childhood illnesses. METHODS: Participants included mothers or primary caretakers of children <2 y of age residing in 2407 households in urban Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India. Mothers of children with illness in the preceding month were interviewed on presenting symptoms, provider choice and beneficiary status of maternal and immunization-based conditional cash transfer programs. RESULTS: Of 2407 children <2 y of age, about 48% reported being beneficiaries of maternal and immunization-based conditional cash transfers. Beneficiary status was associated with an increased use of public services (adjusted relative risk [aRR] 3.14 [95% confidence interval {CI} 1.96 - 5.02]) but not the use of private services (aRR 1.42 [95% CI 0.97 - 2.08]) relative to home or informal care. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate financial incentives for use of maternal and immunization services could have an indirect, non-targeted effect on utilization of formal healthcare for acute childhood illnesses.

Financial Eligibility Criteria and Medication Coverage for Independent Charity Patient Assistance Programs.

Importance: Although independent charity patient assistance programs improve patient access to costly prescription drugs, recent federal investigations have raised questions about their potential to increase pharmaceutical spending and to violate the federal Anti-Kickback Statute. Little is known about the design of the programs, patient eligibility, or drug coverage. Objective: To examine the eligibility criteria of the independent charity patient assistance programs and the drugs covered by them. Design, Setting, and Participants: Descriptive cross-sectional study of the 6 largest independent charities offering patient assistance programs for patients including, but not limited to, Medicare beneficiaries in 2018. These charities offered 274 different disease-specific patient assistance programs. Drugs were identified for subgroup analysis that had any use reported on the Medicare Part D spending dashboard and any off-patent brand-name drugs that incurred more than $10 000 in Medicare spending per beneficiary in 2016. Exposures: Support by independent charity patient assistance programs. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcomes were the characteristics of patient assistance programs, including assistance type, insurance coverage (vs uninsured), and income eligibility. The secondary outcomes were the cost of the drugs covered by the patient assistance programs and the coverage of expensive off-patent brand-name drugs vs substitutable generic drugs. Results: Among the 6 independent charity foundations included in the analysis, their total revenue in 2017 ranged from $24 million to $532 million, and expenditures on patient assistance programs ranged from $24 million to $353 million, representing on average, 86% of their revenue. Of the 274 patient assistance programs offered by these organizations, 168 (61%) provided only co-payment assistance, and the most common therapeutic area covered was cancer or cancer treatment-related symptoms (113 patient assistance programs; 41%). A total of 267 programs (97%) required insurance coverage as an eligibility criterion (ie, excluded uninsured patients). The most common income eligibility limit was 500% of the federal poverty level. The median annual cost of the drugs per beneficiary covered by the programs was $1157 (interquartile range, $247-$5609) compared with $367 (interquartile range, $100-$1500) for the noncovered drugs. Off-patent brand-name drugs (cost: >$10 000) were covered by a mean of 3.1 (SD, 2.0) patient assistance programs, whereas their generic equivalents were covered by a mean of 1.2 (SD, 1.0) patient assistance programs. Conclusions and Relevance: In 2018, among 274 patient assistance programs operated by the 6 independent charity foundations, the majority did not provide coverage for uninsured patients. Medications that were covered by the patient assistance programs were generally more expensive than those that were not covered.

[Medical assistance in middle-income countries needs regulation to ensure its sustainability: Case of Morocco]. / Réguler l'aide médicale des pays à revenu intermédiaire : le cas du Maroc.

INTRODUCTION: The sustainability of medical assistance, considered necessary in middle-income countries, requires permanent regulation. In Morocco, the medical assistance scheme (MAS) is confronted with the lack of regulation tools and the difficulty of affixing these tools effectively in the absence of a regulator. In this sense, the shortcomings of the current practice of its regulation should be identified in order to recommend actions and tools to improve its implementation and guarantee its continuity. METHODS: The analysis and the proposed recommendations are based on the review of the available literature, the review of the legal texts framing the basic medical coverage and the analysis of the current practice of regulation of the MAS. RESULTS: The regulation of the MAS was not treated in the same way as the compulsory health insurance. There is no proper regulator as the case of the compulsory health insurance. In substance, the planned measures remain very insufficient and scattered between several actors and sometimes difficult to apply. Based on a reference framework designed along four axes (resources, expenditures, health care offer and population), the analysis identified fifteen actions and tools to correct deficiencies and support its sustainability. CONCLUSION: The proposed recommendations need a durable commitment from all the actors who must trigger as quickly as possible urgent actions to optimize the implementation of the medical assistance scheme and improve its perception in the citizen.

The price of a woman: Re-examining the use of financial incentives for women's health in India.

The use of financial incentives is a common instrument to advance women's health across low and middle-income countries. Since the 1990s, the conditional cash transfer (CCT) for health has been generally lauded by researchers, policy makers and international financial institutions due to demonstrated improvements in access to health services and a range of health outcomes. Some scholars, however, have cautioned that CCTs should be further scrutinised to assess potential unintended consequences and moral concerns in a variety of contexts. In this article, I re-examine Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY), a cash incentive programme that aims to promote institutional deliveries in order to reduce high levels of home deliveries and maternal deaths in India. I adopt a critical perspective, focusing on the specific instrument of dowry through the lens of capitalist patriarchy (Mies, M. (1986). Patriarchy and accumulation on a world scale. London: Zed Books). Global and national health policy experts and policy makers require a greater awareness of the dowry system, since this system may hamper the use of financial incentives by reinforcing the commodification of women.

The child survival impact of the Ghana Essential Health Interventions Program: A health systems strengthening plausibility trial in Northern Ghana.

BACKGROUND: The Ghana Health Service in collaboration with partner institutions implemented a five-year primary health systems strengthening program known as the Ghana Essential Health Intervention Program (GEHIP). GEHIP was a plausibility trial implemented in an impoverished region of northern Ghana around the World Health Organizations (WHO) six pillars combined with community engagement, leadership development and grassroots political support, the program organized a program of training and action focused on strategies for saving newborn lives and community-engaged emergency referral services. This paper analyzes the effect of the GEHIP program on child survival. METHODS: Birth history data assembled from baseline and endline surveys are used to assess the hazard of child mortality in GEHIP treatment and comparison areas prior to and after the start of treatment. Difference-in-differences (DiD) methods are used to compare mortality change over time among children exposed to GEHIP relative to children in the comparison area over the same time period. Models test the hypothesis that a package of systems strengthening activities improved childhood survival. Models adjusted for the potentially confounding effects of baseline differentials, secular mortality trends, household characteristics such as relative wealth and parental educational attainment, and geographic accessibility of clinical care. RESULTS: The GEHIP combination of health systems strengthening activities reduced neonatal mortality by approximately one half (HR = 0.52, 95% CI = 0.28,0.98, p = 0.045). There was a null incremental effect of GEHIP on mortality of post-neonate infants (from 1 to 12 months old) (HR = 0.72; 95% CI = 0.30,1.79; p = 0.480) and post-infants (from 1 year to 5 years old) -(HR = 1.02; 95% CI = 0.55-1.90; p = 0.940). Age-specific analyses show that impact was concentrated among neonates. However, effect ratios for post-infancy were inefficiently assessed owing to extensive survival history censoring for the later months of childhood. Children were observed only rarely for periods over 40 months of age. CONCLUSION: GEHIP results show that a comprehensive approach to newborn care is feasible, if care is augmented by community-based nurses. It supports the assertion that if appropriate mechanisms are put in place to enable the various pillars of the health system as espoused by WHO in rural impoverished settings where childhood mortality is high, it could lead to accelerated reductions in mortality thereby increasing survival of children. Policy implications of the pronounced neonatal effect of GEHIP merit national review for possible scale-up.

Multimorbidity And Health Outcomes In Older Adults In Ten European Health Systems, 2006-15.

Despite the increase in awareness of chronic disease, little is known about whether multimorbidity-defined as two or more coexisting chronic conditions-has had a diminished impact on health in Europe in the past decade. We used multiple cross-sectional data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe to estimate changes in the prevalence of multimorbidity and in its association with health outcomes in ten European countries between 2006-07 and 2015. We found that the prevalence of multimorbidity rose from 38.2 percent in 2006-07 to 41.5 percent in 2015. Over the ten-year study period we also found a marginal reduction of the impact of multimorbidity on primary care visits and functional capacity. We did not find a reduction of its impact on hospital admissions and quality of life. Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Spain were the countries that showed the largest reduction in the impact of multimorbidity on health outcomes. Multimorbidity continues to pose challenges for European health care systems, with only marginal improvement on health care use and health outcomes since 2006-07.

The impact of free medical supplies and regular telephonic contact on glycemic control in Indian children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: The effect of economic assistance to underprivileged families with type 1 diabetes has never been described. Such a study is relevant as logistic and cultural factors may preclude an anticipated good outcome. The objective of the study is to determine the impact of economic and educational intervention on hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and diabetes knowledge. METHODS: Eighty-five consecutive participants were prospectively provided insulin and glucose strips for 1 year. From the 6th to 12th month, patients were randomized such that half of them (telephone group) received proactive telephonic advice by a diabetes educator, while the non-telephone group received usual care. HbA1c and diabetes knowledge were measured at baseline, 6 and 12 months. RESULTS: Significant improvement was seen in HbA1c with provision of free diabetes supplies, when patients were compared with their own HbA1c values during the prior 36 months (baseline [8.38 ± 2.0%], at 3 months [8.0 ± 1.6%] and at 6 months [8.1 ± 1.5%, P = 0.0106]). Knowledge score increased from baseline (48 ± 15) to 6 months (58 ± 13, P < 0.001). No difference was seen between the telephone and non-telephone groups in HbA1c from the 6th to 9th and 12th month. The knowledge score showed significant improvement in the telephone group during the proactive telephonic advice study compared with the non-telephone group (P = 0.002). CONCLUSIONS: The provision of free medical supplies improved HbA1c and diabetes knowledge. Intensive telephone contact improved knowledge, not HbA1c. These results provide important background for policy makers and diabetes management teams.

Application of PCSK9 Inhibitors in Practice.

PCSK9i (protein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 inhibitors) are set to revolutionize the treatment of hypercholesterolemia in the management of atherosclerotic risk, but numerous reports have detailed unprecedented barriers to access for these drugs. To overcome these challenges, our group created a model to facilitate provision of this new therapy for patients who qualify according to Food and Drug Administration criteria. This report details the real-world follow-up experience of PCSK9i use in a large patient cohort structured to ensure rigor in data collection, analysis, and interpretation. The 271 patients approved and actively followed in our PCSK9i clinic between July 2015 and August 2018 represent a 97% approval rate from insurance, with 28% of prescriptions requiring at least one appeal. Over 50% of patients were statin intolerant. On average, there was a median lapse of 15 days between initial visit and insurance approval. PCSK9i therapy was affordable for most patients, with an average monthly out-of-pocket expense of $58.05 (median $0). Only 2.3% of patients were unable to initiate or continue therapy because of cost. Reductions from baseline in LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol and Lp(a) (lipoprotein [a])were comparable to published reports with median reductions of 60% and 23% at 1 year, respectively. PCSK9i therapy was well-tolerated overall, though 9% of patients reported adverse events, and 5% of patients discontinued due mostly to musculoskeletal and flu-like symptoms. Our practice model demonstrates that PCSK9i therapy can be accessed easily and affordably for the majority of eligible patients, resulting in dramatic improvement in lipid profile results. Moreover, our registry data suggest that results from the prospective clinical trials of PCSK9i on LDL and Lp(a) reduction and on tolerability are applicable to a real-world cohort.

Operational and Financial Considerations of Using Drones for Medical Support of Mass Events in Poland.

OBJECTIVE: The implementation of drones in the medical security system requires a proper planning of the cooperation of different services, dividing the area into sectors, assessing potential risks, and other factors. This study refers to the cost analysis of using drones in the medical support of mass events. The aim of this research is to analyze the costs of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) implementation in the mass event medical support system. METHODS: The description includes purchase and maintenance costs of UAVs. The analysis also involves ways of raising funds for projects related to the UAV sector. Apart from the financial aspect, staff and drone operator training issues are the subjects of this analysis as well. RESULTS: This study is based on a specialist research involving drones and referring to reports on the current situation in Poland and in the world. CONCLUSIONS: The presented funds required for such projects and the way of raising these funds illustrate the range of the project and its requirements. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2019;13:527-532).

Questioning "choice": A multinational metasynthesis of research on directly funded home-care programs for older people.

In many developed contexts, home-care services have been overhauled with the intent of increasing control and flexibility for those using social and health services. This change is associated with providing funds directly to individuals, and sometimes their families and supports, to arrange at home-care assistance with the activities of daily living. Directly funded home-care programs, or "direct funding" (DF), are not value-neutral policy interventions, but complex and politicised tools for the enactment of care in contemporary times. In this qualitative metasynthesis, we consider 47 research articles published between 2009 and 2017 that explore various DF programs for older persons in the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States to identify core concepts in the literature. We find that choice emerges as a central concern. We then assess the literature to explore the questions: How does the existing literature conceptualise choice, and the mechanisms through which choice is enhanced, in DF programs for older persons? How is choice, and the benefit of choice to older service users, understood in relevant studies? We argue that the concept of "choice" manifests as a normative goal with presumed benefits among the studies reviewed. Particularly when discussing DF for older people, however, it is essential to consider which mechanisms improve care outcomes, rather than focusing on which mechanisms increase choice writ large. In the case of DF, increased choice comes with increased legal responsibilities and often administrative tasks that many older people and their supports find burdensome. Furthermore, there is no evidence that choice over all elements of one's services is the mechanism that improves care experiences. We conclude by presenting alternative models of understanding care emerging from feminist and other critical scholarship to consider if we are, perhaps, asking the wrong questions about why DF is so often preferred over conventional home-care delivery.

The medical assistance system and inpatient health care provision: Empirical evidence from short-term hospitalizations in Japan.

This paper uses two nationally representative sets of medical claims data from medical assistance and universal public health insurance systems to examine how medical assistance system assignment affects short-term inpatient health care provision. In Japan, the medical assistance system, which is part of a public assistance system, provides medical care services for its beneficiaries without imposing any financial burdens, such as copayments or advance premium payments. These circumstances can lead to inpatient costs, as physicians may provide more treatments because there is a financial incentive. Because the assignment of public assistance in Japan is not random but is subject to means testing by the local government, I employ the instrumental variable model to control the potential correlation. I find that medical expenditure is significantly higher for medical assistance patients than for universal public health insurance patients, with an arc elasticity of approximately 0.20. This elasticity is slightly greater than that found for inpatient care in the randomized RAND Health Insurance Experiment and recent empirical studies on low-income populations. In addition, the elasticities for patients who receive medication, treatment and surgery are greater.