Forgone care and financial burden due to out-of-pocket payments within the German health care system

摘要

BackgroundThe amount of out-of-pocket (OOP) payments within the German health care system has risen steadily within the last years. OOP payments aim to strengthen patients’ cost awareness and try to restrict the demand on medical necessary treatments. However, besides the intended decline of non-induced health care services there’s a risk that people also forgo necessary treatments because the utilization of health care services depends not only on need-factors but also on the ability to pay for it.Therefore, this paper aims to analyze the determinants of the total amount of OOP payments, the financial burden caused by OOP payments and the relinquishment of health care services due to OOP payments.