United States - Increase in poverty gap at $1.90 ($ 2011 PPP) poverty line due to out-of-pocket health care expenditure (% of poverty line)

The value for Increase in poverty gap at $1.90 ($ 2011 PPP) poverty line due to out-of-pocket health care expenditure (% of poverty line) in United States was 0.000 as of 2013. As the graph below shows, over the past 18 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 0.085 in 2012 and a minimum value of 0.000 in 2002.

Definition: Increase in poverty gap at $1.90 ($ 2011 PPP) poverty line due to out-of-pocket health care expenditure, as a percentage of the $1.90 poverty line. The poverty gap increase due to out-of-pocket health spending is one way to measure how much out-of-pocket health spending pushes people below or further below the poverty line (the difference in the poverty gap due to out-of-pocket health spending being included or excluded from the measure of household welfare). This difference corresponds to the total out-of-pocket health spending for households that are already below the poverty line, to the amount that exceeds the shortfall between the poverty line and total consumption for households that are impoverished by out-of-pocket health spending and to zero for households whose consumption is above the poverty line after accounting for out-of-pocket health spending.

Source: World Health Organization and World Bank. 2019. Global Monitoring Report on Financial Protection in Health 2019.

See also:

Year Value
1995 0.013
1996 0.011
1997 0.008
1998 0.010
2000 0.001
2001 0.000
2002 0.000
2003 0.000
2004 0.000
2005 0.000
2006 0.000
2007 0.001
2008 0.001
2009 0.001
2010 0.000
2011 0.000
2012 0.085
2013 0.000

Development Relevance: Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is about ensuring that all people can access the health services they need – without facing financial hardship – is key to improving the well-being of a country’s population. UHC is also an investment in human capital and a foundational driver of inclusive and sustainable economic growth and development. UHC is a target associated with the Sustainable Development Goals (target 3.8), and it relates directly to Goal 3 (Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages) and to Goal 1 (End poverty in all its forms everywhere).

Statistical Concept and Methodology: Out-of-pocket payments are those made by people at the time of getting any type of service (preventive, curative, rehabilitative, palliative or long-term care) provided by any type of provider. They include cost-sharing (the part not covered by a third party like an insurer) and informal payments, but they exclude insurance premiums. Out-of-pocket payments exclude any reimbursement by a third party, such as the government, a health insurance fund or a private insurance company. This series measures the poverty gap increase attributable to OOP health expenditures. This amount can be interpreted as the per capita amount by which on average OOP spending pushes or further pushes the household below the PL. It is defined as the difference between the poverty gap based on a measure of consumption net of OOP health expenditures and a measure of consumption gross of OOP health expenditures. The difference is expressed as a percentage of the PL.

Aggregation method: Weighted average

Periodicity: Annual

Classification

Topic: Health Indicators

Sub-Topic: Universal Health Coverage