Direct Household Payments for Health Services in Asia and the Pacific: Impacts and Policy Options

Millions of people in Asia and the Pacific, particularly the poor, still cannot use needed health services because they are unavailable or are too expensive. Millions more suffer financial ruin each year because they must pay for the health services they use at the time they receive them.At the same time, many health systems in low- and middle-income Asia Pacific countries face major government funding shortages which have led to a heavy reliance on user fees and other out-of-pocket payments for funding health services. This policy brief is intended to assist policymakers from the Asia Pacific region in understanding the impact of such funding mechanisms and provide viable policy recommendations based on existing evidence.