Household health expenditures in Morocco: Implications for health care reform

The purpose of this study was to investigate the level and distribution of household health care expenditures in Morocco, and to compare the level of health care funds provided by households with the levels provided by the go vernment and international donors. In addition, the reliance of poor and no n-poor households on both public and private providers was investigated. Th e study was based on data collected in the 1995 Demographic and Health Surv ey, which included a special supplement on health care expenditures. Descri ptive statistics are presented on utilization of out-of-pocket expenditures for antenatal and obstetric care, chronic care, and non-chronic care assoc iated with illness and injury, by urban/rural status and by socio-economic status. The results indicate that government health cafe providers are an i mportant source of modern health care not only for poor households, but for better-off households as well. While individuals who use private health ca re providers incur substantially higher costs than those who use public pro viders, an unexpected finding of the study is the degree to which public cl ients pay for health care services, despite the fact that public care is no minally priced in Morocco. We conclude by discussing the implications of ou r results on the design and implementation of health care reform policies. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.