Health financing policy

Selected country experiences

Bolivia

Bolivia is one of the poorest and least developed Latin American countries and since 1996 has been going through a period of health system reform, characterized by a decentralization process along with the implementation of the national child and maternal insurance scheme. This discussion paper explores the trend in health service utilization, out-of pocket payments, catastrophic expenditure and the socio-economic factors associated with them , particularly for the poor and non-poor, the young (under 5), the indigenous and the elderly (over 60).