Did primary healthcare user fee abolition matter? Reconsidering South Africa's experience

Did primary healthcare user fee abolition matter? Reconsidering South Africa's experience

Author: 
Brink, Anna S.
Publisher: 
Taylor & Francis Group
Date published: 
2015
Record type: 
Responsibility: 
Koch, Steven F., jt . author
Journal Title: 
Development Southern Africa
Source: 
Development Southern Africa, Vol. 32, No. 2, March 2015, pp. 170-192
Abstract: 

South Africa waived user fees for primary healthcare in 1994 and, again, in 1996. The first waiver focused on young children, elderly adults, pregnant women and nursing mothers, while the 1996 reform waived fees for the remainder of the population, subject to means tests. We take advantage of household survey information to examine the impact of the policy on a subset of the reform-eligible population. Although it was expected that public healthcare facility usage would have increased post reform, no statistically significant evidence supported such a claim. Therefore, our results are consistent with some very recent research examining the 1994 reform, but are generally at odds with the general impression in the literature that user fee abolition matters when it comes to alleviating inequities in access to healthcare.

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CITATION: Brink, Anna S.. Did primary healthcare user fee abolition matter? Reconsidering South Africa's experience . : Taylor & Francis Group , 2015. Development Southern Africa, Vol. 32, No. 2, March 2015, pp. 170-192 - Available at: https://library.au.int/frdid-primary-healthcare-user-fee-abolition-matter-reconsidering-south-africas-experience-0