Governments in the developing world face the unenviable task of stretching severely constrained health budgets to ensure that needed healthcare can be accessed without further straining the finances of already desperately poor households. Our research aims to help find ways of meeting this challenge by providing evidence on the effectiveness of health financing policies in extending healthcare access and improving financial protection from the risk of medical expenses. We are also developing measures of medical expenditure risk and exploring behavioral explanations for low enrollment in health insurance. An ongoing study examines the role of health risk perceptions in the demand for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease, which is the leading cause of death worldwide.
Key publications
- Neelsen, S. and O’Donnell, O. (2017). Progressive Universalism? The Impact of Targeted Coverage on Healthcare Access and Expenditures in Peru. Health Economics, DOI: 10.1002/hec.3492.
- Flores, G. and O’Donnell, O. (2016). Catastrophic Medical Expenditure Risk. Journal of Health Economics, 2016, 46:1-15.
- Van de Poel, E., G. Flores, P. Ir and O. O’Donnell (2016). Impact of Performance-Based Financing in a Low-Resource Setting: A Decade of Experience in Cambodia. Health Economics, 2016, 25(6): 688-706
- Limwattananon S., Neelsen S., O'Donnell O., Prakongsai P., Tangcharoensathien V., van Doorslaer E., V Vongmogkol (2015). Universal coverage with supply-side reform: The impact on medical expenditure risk and utilization in Thailand, Journal of Public Economics, 121, 79-94.
- G. Flores, P. Ir, C.R. Men, O. O’Donnell and E. Van Doorslaer (2013). Financial Protection of Patients through Compensation of Providers: The Impact of Health Equity Funds in Cambodia. Journal of Health Economics, 32(6): 1180-93.