Low-income Parents’ Decisions about Medical Treatment

Abstract

Many low-income households in developing countries cannot afford the high costs of medical treatment. They often resort to cost-saving, but risky options for their treatment. The article uses data published in earlier studies in India to analyse the treatment decisions of low-income households. We compare parents’ decisions about their children’s treatment with those about their own treatment. The analysis shows that parents often adopt a cost-saving (and risk-taking) attitude about their own treatment, relative to that for their children. This difference is found even when the parents and children have the same sickness profiles and also, when the parents have a higher incidence of serious sicknesses. There is a need for policies to increase affordable access to medicines. These include poverty alleviation and competition/regulation to reduce prices of medicines.