Jeetoo Jamiil, Jaunky Vishal Chandr
Department of Economics and Statistics, Open University of Mauritius, Reduit 80837, Mauritius.
Department of Business Administration, Technology and Social Sciences, Luleå University of Technology, SE-971 87 Lulea, Sweden.
Healthcare (Basel). 2022 Jan 5;10(1):101. doi: 10.3390/healthcare10010101.
A free universal healthcare provision exists in Mauritius. Yet the share of out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure out of total household expenditure has been growing over time. This study estimates income elasticity of out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure using Mauritian household data within an Engel curve framework. In the absence of longitudinal data on out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure patterns, the study proposes the application of the pseudo-panel approach using cross-sectional Household Budget Survey waves from 1996/97 to 2017. Income elasticity of out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure is estimated to be 0.938, which is just below unity. This implies that out-of-pocket healthcare demand is not considered to be a luxury, but a necessity in Mauritius. In order to see the differences in income elasticities by income groups, separate regressions are estimated for each income quartile over different years. The results indicate that income elasticities of out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure vary non-monotonically.
毛里求斯提供免费的全民医疗保健服务。然而，自付医疗保健支出在家庭总支出中所占的比例却一直在上升。本研究在恩格尔曲线框架内，利用毛里求斯家庭数据估计自付医疗保健支出的收入弹性。由于缺乏自付医疗保健支出模式的纵向数据，该研究建议采用伪面板方法，利用1996/97年至2017年的横断面家庭预算调查数据。自付医疗保健支出的收入弹性估计为0.938，略低于1。这意味着在毛里求斯，自付医疗保健需求不被视为奢侈品，而是必需品。为了观察不同收入群体的收入弹性差异，对不同年份的每个收入四分位数进行了单独回归。结果表明，自付医疗保健支出的收入弹性呈非单调变化。
