Ekonomsko-finansijske mogućnosti korišćenja zdravstvene zaštite stanovništva Srbije

Abstract

After nutrition, the next largest item in the budget of every family is healthcare, despite the existence of mandatory health insurance. For this reason, it is of great significance to study the material possibilities of families to get healthcare. The basic goal of this paper is to explore the economic possibilities to use healthcare services. In order to achieve this goal statistical methodology has been used to analyze data collected through questionnaire-type survey conducted in 2006 by the Institute for Public Health of Serbia. According to data collected in that survey the origin of family incomes are mostly salaries, pensions and agriculture earnings. Those incomes were sufficient to cover only the basic needs (40.5%), and to cover all needs only with 32.9% of families. 37% of examinees assessed their own material status as bed. For 10% of families, the costs of nutrition participated in their total incomes with over 70%, which shows that a large number of families is very poor. Hence, 33.5% of school children and 62.8% of adult population is dissatisfied with their current life. With all material difficulties, 7.8% of the surveyed said that they have paid medical staff to provide certain services without being asked to pay. 41.1% of families had healthcare related costs during the last year. The average expenses for healthcare amounted to 14,697 dinars per inhabitant. Such economic and financial status of families does not allow undisturbed use of healthcare services.