Can people afford to pay for health care? New evidence on financial protection in Lithuania (2018)

By Liuba Murauskienė, Sarah Thomson
2018, xii + 76 pages
ISBN 978 92 890 5314 3
This publication is only available online.

This review is part of a series of country-based studies generating new evidence on financial protection in European health systems. Financial protection is central to universal health coverage and a core dimension of health system performance.

The review assesses the extent to which people in Lithuania experience financial hardship when they use health care. The analysis draws on household budget survey data collected in 2005, 2008 and 2012 by Statistics Lithuania. It focuses on two indicators of financial protection: catastrophic out-of-pocket payments and impoverishing out-of-pocket payments. It also considers the presence of access barriers leading to unmet need for health care.

A summary of this review is available in English and Lithuanian.