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Paying informally for public health care in Albania: scarce resources or governance failure?

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  • Sonila M. Tomini
  • Wim Groot

Abstract

Informal payments for health care are common in most former communist countries. This article explores the demand side of these payments in Albania. Using tobit and Heckman selection models we control for individual determinants of informal payments in outpatient and inpatient health care. Propensity score matching (PSM) techniques are used to investigate the changes in the characteristics of people paying informally over the different years. Our findings suggest that vulnerable groups in society remain less protected against such payments and policy measures have not reached the most deprived regions of the country.

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  • Sonila M. Tomini & Wim Groot, 2013. "Paying informally for public health care in Albania: scarce resources or governance failure?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(36), pages 5119-5130, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:45:y:2013:i:36:p:5119-5130
    DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2013.818216
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    Cited by:

    1. Cristian Incaltarau & Adrian V. Horodnic & Colin C. Williams & Liviu Oprea, 2021. "Institutional Determinants of Informal Payments for Health Services: An Exploratory Analysis across 117 Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-19, November.
    2. Ioana Alexandra Horodnic & Colin C. Williams & Rodica Ianole-Cãlin & Adrian V. Horodnic, 2023. "Exploring the illegal practice of under-reporting wages in the construction industry: some lessons from Romania," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(26), pages 2978-2992, June.
    3. Williams, Colin C. & Horodnic, Adrian V., 2017. "Rethinking informal payments by patients in Europe: An institutional approach," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(10), pages 1053-1062.
    4. Niccol? Persiani & Alberto Romolini & Claudia Galanti & Maria Jos? Cald?s Pinilla & Michele De Luca, 2014. "La riforma del sistema di finanziamento del Servizio Sanitario nazionale albanese," MECOSAN, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2014(89), pages 7-30.

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