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Anecdotal evidence on hidden inequity in health care in North African countries abounds. Yet firm empirical evidence has been harder to come by. This article fills the gap. It presents the first analysis of equity in the healthcare system using the particular case of Tunisia. Analyses are based on an unusually rich source of data taken from the Tunisian HealthCare Utilization and Morbidity Survey. Payments for health care are derived from the total amount of healthcare spending which was incurred by households over the last year. Utilization of health care is measured by the number of physical units of two types of services: outpatient and inpatient. The measurement of need for health care is apprehended through a rich set of ill-health indicators and demographics. Findings are presented and compared at both the aggregate level, using the general summary index approach, and the disaggregate level, using the distribution-free stochastic dominance approach. The overall picture is that direct out-of-pocket payments, which constitute a sizeable share in the current financing mix, emerge to be a progressive means of financing health care overall. Interestingly, however, when statistical testing is applied at the disaggregate level progressivity is retained over the top half of the distribution. Further analyses of the distributions of need for—and utilization of—two types of health care—outpatient and inpatient—reveal that the observed progressivity is rather an outcome of the heavy use, but not need, for health care at the higher income levels. Several policy relevant factors are discussed, and some recommendations are advanced for future reforms of the health care in Tunisia. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Despite the remarkable progress in expanding the coverage of social protection mechanisms in health, the Tunisian healthcare system is still largely funded through direct out-of-pocket payments. This paper seeks to assess financial protection in health in the particular policy and epidemiological transition of Tunisia using nationally representative survey data on healthcare expenditure, utilization and morbidity. The extent to which the healthcare system protects people against the financial repercussions of ill-health is assessed using the catastrophic and impoverishing payment approaches. The characteristics associated with the likelihood of vulnerability to catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) are examined using multivariate logistic regression technique. Results revealed that non-negligible proportions of the Tunisian population (ranging from 4.5 % at the conservative 40 % threshold of discretionary nonfood expenditure to 12 % at the 10 % threshold of total expenditure) incurred CHE. In terms of impoverishment, results showed that health expenditure can be held responsible for about 18 % of the rise in the poverty gap. These results appeared to be relatively higher when compared with those obtained for other countries with similar level of development. Nonetheless, although households belonging to richer quintiles reported more illness episodes and received more treatment than the poor households, the latter households were more likely to incur CHE at any threshold. Amongst the correlates of CHE, health insurance coverage was significantly related to CHE regardless of the threshold used. Some implications and policy recommendations, which might also be useful for other similar countries, are advanced to enhance the financial protection capacity of the Tunisian healthcare system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]