Catastrophic health care expenditure and finacial risk protection among households of Udupi district; South India

Abstract

In a country like India where the health care delivery is privately driven (72%) and only 25% of the population is formally covered by some form of health insurance, the patients have to make the payments out of their pocket as high as 87%. The costs of illness are considered to be catastrophic when, costs of coping with an illness force households to spend less on other basic needs (such as food or school fees), to incur debts, or to sell productive resources