Background
In India, health care costs, and those for inpatient care in
particular, pose a barrier to seeking health care, and can be a
major cause of indebtedness and impoverishment. Threequarters
(1999 to 2003 estimates) of total health care spending
flows from individuals and households directly to health care
providers (predominantly private) in the form of out-of-pocket
payments (World Health Organization 2006a). On average, the
poorest quintile of Indians is 2.6 times more likely than the
richest to not seek medical treatment when ill, and only
one-sixth as likely to be hospitalized (Peters et al. 2002).
In India, 31.1% of individuals fall below the World Bank’s
absolute poverty threshold of US$1.08 per day. Subtraction
of out-of-pocket payments for health care increases the
poverty headcount to 34.8%, representing over 37 million
people (van Doorslaer et al. 2006). A study of more than 3000
households in 20 Gujarati villages found that, over 25 years,
among all households that fell into poverty, ill health and
related expenses were critical in 85% of cases (Krishna et al.
2003).
In Gujarat (as in all India), the poor are more likely than the
rich to choose public rather than private inpatient facilities
(Mahal et al. 2000). Nonetheless, 54.9% of all hospitalizations
among the rural population below the poverty line (BPL) of
Gujarat, and 51.1% of all hospitalizations among the urban BPL
population, are in private hospitals.1 Hospital charges faced by
the urban BPL population are higher than those faced by their
rural counterparts, at both public and private facilities. For
example, the average charge per day of hospitalization in a
private facility, for BPL patients, is Rs. 125.7 in urban Gujarat
compared with only Rs. 57.8 in rural Gujarat (Mahal et al.
2000).
The term ‘coping strategies’ was coined during the 1980s in
the literature on household responses to lack of food and
nutrition. The term refers to the mechanisms or activities
undertaken by members of a household that help them
survive through a crisis situation (McIntyre and Thiede 2007).
Figure 1 lists some of the measures available for coping with
financial shocks. The strategies have been categorized as
informal (or traditional) and formal, i.e. market-based or
publicly provided (World Bank 2001). In India, formal mechanisms
are largely inaccessible to the poor. In theory, government
provision of universal and free health care should
cover the poor, but in practice it often does not.
Private-for-profit health insurance and government social
insurance are geared primarily towards India’s formal sector,
comprising less than 10% of the total population (Gupta and
Trivedi 2005).
There have been many studies of the informal mechanisms
used by poor rural households for coping with financial shocks,
and more specifically those related to medical expenditure
(Rosenzweig 1988; Townsend 1994; Kochar 1995; Krishna et al.
2003). In rural areas, when a shock hits, people cope by selling
livestock or other assets, or calling on support networks
for transfers or loans. If these mechanisms fail or fall short,
households may increase their labour supply, working
more hours or involving more household members (women or
children), or borrow from a private lender at high rates
of interest. In Gujarat, the rates of interest on these
loans start as high as 5–7% per month (Krishna et al. 2003).
If all else fails, households reduce consumption—including
the consumption of medical services and goods—and go
hungry.
Far less is known about coping strategies among the poor
living in urban areas, including those who have migrated from
rural areas for work. It has, however, been argued that the
strong social networks that provide mutual insurance in India
are actually a deterrent to mobility, and explain rates of
urbanization that are low relative to other low-income countries
(Munshi and Rosenzweig 2005). These authors show, based on
1982 and 1999 survey data, that migration (not necessarily to
urban areas, but away from one’s native village) is associated
with a significantly lower probability of receiving loans from
friends or family. International literature suggests that those
who have migrated for work are particularly vulnerable as they
are more likely to work longer hours, live and work in poorer
conditions, be socially isolated and lack access to basic
amenities (International Organisation for Migration 2005).
In 2002, a World Bank consultation highlighted the fact that,
despite a growing population of urban poor (27% of 285 million
people), for whom many health indicators are as bad or
worse than for poor rural populations, there has been little
analytical work on health issues of the urban poor (World Bank
2002).