The catastrophic and impoverishing effects of out-of-pocket healthcare payments in Kenya, 2018

Introduction Progress towards effective service coverage and financial protection-the two dimensions of Universal Health Coverage (UHC)-has been limited in Kenya in the last decade. The government of Kenya has embarked on a highly ambitious reform programme currently being piloted in four Kenyan counties and aiming at national rollout by 2022. This study provides an updated assessment of the performance of the Kenyan health system in terms of financial protection allowing to monitor trends over time. In light of the UHC initiative, the study provides a baseline to assess the impact of the UHC pilot programme and inform scale-up plans. It also investigates household characteristics associated with catastrophic payments. Methods Using data from the Kenya Household Health Expenditure and Utilization Survey (KHHEUS) 2018, we investigated the incidence and intensity of catastrophic and impoverishing health expenditure. We used a logistic regression analysis to assess households' characteristics associated with the probability of incurring catastrophic health expenditures. Results The results show that the incidence of catastrophic payments is more severe for the poorest households and in the rural areas and mainly due to outpatient services. Results for the impoverishing effect suggest that after accounting for out-of-pocket(OOP) payments, the proportion of poor people increases by 2.2 percentage points in both rural and urban areas. Thus, between 1 and 1.1 million individuals are pushed into poverty due to OOP payments. Among the characteristics associated with the probability of incurring OOP expenditures, socioeconomic conditions, the presence of elderly and of people affected by chronic conditions showed significant results. Conclusion Kenya is still lagging behind in terms of protecting its citizens against financial risks associated with ill health and healthcare seeking behaviour. More effort is needed to protect the most vulnerable population groups from the high costs of illness.