In May, 2003, British Columbia transitioned from an age-based public drug program, with public subsidy primarily based on age, to an age-irrelevant income-based drug program, in which public subsidy is based primarily on household income. As one of the specific aims of the policy change was to...

Objective We examined changes in patterns of benzodiazepine use in British Columbia over a period of increasing evidence of harms associated with long-term use.Methods Using linked administrative databases for the years 1996 and 2006, we performed logistic regression to examine how...

Previous research has shown that a small proportion of the population accounts for a substantial proportion of spending on physician and hospital services. Much less is known about the high-cost users of ambulatory prescription medicines. We investigate the concentration and sustained nature of...

Objectives To explore the redistributive impact of two different pharmaceutical financing policies (age-based versus income-based pharmacare) on the distribution of income in British Columbia (B.C.), Canada.Methods Using household-level data on all payments that are used to finance prescription...

This paper presents the findings from simulations of the introduction of publicly funded medical savings accounts (MSAs) in the province of Ontario, Canada. The analysis exploits a unique data set linking population-based health survey information with individual-level information on all...

This paper presents the findings from simulations of the introduction of publicly funded Medical Savings Accounts in the province of Ontario, Canada. The analysis exploits a unique data set linking population-based health survey information with individual-level information on all physician...

Genetic testing has long been part of Canada’s health system, but the scope of genetic testing is growing into new areas. Whereas traditional tests predominantly foretell the health of future generations, new tests increasingly tell individuals about their own health and risks. And whereas...

Out-of-pocket (OOP) payments are the principal means of financing health care throughout much of Asia. The paper describe the magnitude and distribution of OOP payments for health care in 14 countries and territories accounting for 81% of the Asian population. The focus is on expenditures that...

This paper presents new international comparative evidence on the factors driving inequalities in the use of GP and specialist services in 12 EU member states. The data are taken from the 1996 wave of the European Community Household Panel (ECHP). We examine two types of utilisation (the...

This paper provides new evidence on the sources of differences in the degree of income-related inequalities in self-assessed health in 13 European Union member states. It goes beyond earlier work by measuring health using an interval regression approach to compute concentration indices and by...