TY  - JOUR
AU  - Baji, Petra
AU  - Pavlova, M
AU  - Gulácsi, László
AU  - Farkas, Miklós
AU  - Groot, W
TI  - The link between past informal payments and willingness of the Hungarian population to pay formal fees for health care services: results from a contingent valuation study.
JF  - EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF HEALTH ECONOMICS
J2  - EUR J HEALTH ECON
VL  - 15
PY  - 2014
IS  - 8
SP  - 853
EP  - 867
PG  - 15
SN  - 1618-7598
DO  - 10.1007/s10198-013-0531-y
UR  - https://m2.mtmt.hu/api/publication/2393943
ID  - 2393943
N1  - Cited By :14            
            Export Date: 5 June 2023            
            CODEN: EJHEA            
            Correspondence Address: Baji, P.; Health Economics and Health Technology Assessment Research Centre, Budapesti Corvinus Egyetem, Fővám tér 8, Hungary
AB  - We examine the willingness of health care consumers to pay 
formal fees for health care use and how this willingness to pay 
is associated with past informal payments. We use data from a 
survey carried out in Hungary in 2010 among a representative 
sample of 1,037 respondents. The contingent valuation method is 
used to elicit the willingness to pay official charges for 
health care services covered by the social health insurance if 
certain quality attributes (regarding the health care facility, 
access to the services and health care personnel) are 
guaranteed. A bivariate probit model is applied to examine the 
relationship between willingness to pay and past informal 
payments. We find that 66 % of the respondents are willing to 
pay formal fees for specialist examinations and 56 % are willing 
to pay for planned hospitalizations if these services are 
provided with certain quality and access attributes. The act of 
making past informal payments for health care services is 
positively associated with the willingness to pay formal 
charges. The probability that a respondent is willing to pay 
official charges for health care services is 22 % points higher 
for specialist examinations and 45 % points higher for 
hospitalization if the respondent paid informally during the 
last 12 months. The introduction of formal fees should be 
accompanied by adequate service provision to assure acceptance 
of the fees. Furthermore, our results suggest that the problem 
of informal patient payments may remain even after the 
implementation of user fees.
LA  - English
DB  - MTMT
ER  - 

TY  - JOUR
AU  - Baji, Petra
AU  - Pavlova, M
AU  - Gulácsi, László
AU  - Groot, W
TI  - Exploring consumers' attitudes towards informal patient payments using the combined method of cluster and multinomial regression analysis - the case of Hungary
JF  - BMC HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH
J2  - BMC HEALTH SERV RES
VL  - 13
PY  - 2013
PG  - 14
SN  - 1472-6963
DO  - 10.1186/1472-6963-13-62
UR  - https://m2.mtmt.hu/api/publication/2228034
ID  - 2228034
AB  - ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Previous studies on informal patient payments have mostly focused on the magnitude and determinants of these payments while the attitudes of health care actors towards these payments are less well known. This study aims to reveal the attitudes of Hungarian health care consumers towards informal payments to provide a better understanding of this phenomenon. METHODS: For the analysis, we use data from a survey carried out in 2010 in Hungary involving a representative sample of 1037 respondents. We use cluster analysis to identify the main attitude groups related to informal payments based on the respondents' perception of and behavior related to informal payments. Multinomial logistic regression is applied to examine the differences between these groups in terms of socio-demographic characteristics, as well as past utilization and informal payments paid for health care services. RESULTS: We identified three main different attitudes towards informal payments: accepting informal payments, doubting about informal payments and opposing informal payments. Those who accept informal payments (mostly young or elderly people, living in the capital) consider these payments as an expression of gratitude and perceive them as inevitable due to the low funding of the health care system. Those who doubt about informal payments (mostly respondents outside the capital, with higher education and higher household income) are not certain whether these payments are inevitable, perceive them as similar to corruption rather than gratitude, and would rather use private services to avoid these payments. We find that the opposition to informal payments (mostly among men from small households and low income households) can be explained by their lower ability and willingness to pay. CONCLUSIONS: A large share of Hungarian health care consumers has a rather positive attitude towards informal payments, perceiving them as "inevitable due to the low funding of the health care system". From a policy point-of-view, the change of this consumer attitude will be essential to deal with these payments in addition to other policy strategies.
LA  - English
DB  - MTMT
ER  -