Catastrophic Health Expenditure and Poverty in Egypt

Out-of-pocket health payments can cause financial hardship to households, which may push them into poverty. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of out-of-pocket health payments on households’ economic situation in Egypt using a national representative survey. On the other hand, the conventional poverty estimates do not take the effect of out-of-pocket health payments on households into account. Therefore, by reassessing the poverty estimates taking into account out-of-pocket health payments, this book provides new poverty estimates that reflect the poverty impact of out-of-pocket health payments. The study adopts the World Health Organization’s methodology in measuring the extent of catastrophic health expenditure and impoverishment. The Findings of the study reveal that health payments exacerbate Egyptian households' living significantly. It suggests that 6% of households encounter catastrophic health expenditure in 2010. It estimates that the poverty line for a household composed of four members equals $114 per month. It suggests that 19.1% are poor. However, additional 7.4% of households pushed into poverty because of health payments.