Cost Burden of the Disease on the Indian Health Sector and the Healthcare Utilization Patterns among Households in Goa

Abstract

There has been an alarmingly increasing trend in the prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the Indian economy. These transformations pose great challenges to the country in terms of the rising healthcare costs which further impact the rate of savings and investment for an individual as well as the capital formation of the country at large. This paper uses a sample of 400 goan HH to evaluate disease-specific direct and indirect costs attributable to the NCDs-Diabetes, Cancer, Cardiovascular, and Chronic Kidney Disorder (CKD). Apart from analyzing the cost burden associated with these chronic and long-term illnesses the paper also analyses healthcare utilization patterns, i.e., Public Sector versus the private sector and the quality factors that drive individuals and households to make their choices. In terms of direct cost, the highest burden was found to be for CKD followed by cancer, diabetes, and lastly cardiovascular disease (CVD). For the indirect cost, the highest burden was posed by cancer followed by CVD, diabetes, and lastly CKD. The study finds that the choice of government healthcare is driven by factors such as proximity, cost, and efficiency. The choice of private healthcare is mainly driven by factors – privacy, less waiting hours, and timely treatment. When the sampled respondents choose, a combination of both private and public health care the main factor that drove this choice were that of clean environment, proximity, and less waiting hours.