Expenditure Patterns and Willingness to Pay for Health Services in Belize. Analysis of the 1991 Belize Family Life Survey

摘要

This paper combines information on expenditures and health care use patterns with responses to hypothetical questions about willingness to pay. The analysis of the survey is largely with two exploratory regression estimates, and should be readily understood by people considering policy changes in Belize. It is divided into the following parts: (1) Prenatal and birth utilization of providers and costs. (2) Recent utilization and costs to care for sick family members. (3) Expenditures for specific childhood illnesses. (4) Willingness to pay for government-provided health care. The analysis is based on simple cross tabs associating utilization patterns and expenditures with several household socioeconomic variables. In addition, the willingness-to-pay data are analyzed using a simple regression model.