Intrahousehold support for healthcare expenditures in Kerala

Manasi R. Bawdekar, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)

With impending greying of population in coming decades and increasing shortage of generic public health care provision in India, reallocation of resources between members of family seems to be the important means of support for the health expenditures of elderly citizens. This paper attempts to study the healthcare expenditure patterns with emphasis on intra-household transfer in the two contrasting states of India namely, Maharashtra and Kerala using the data from India Human Development Survey (2004-05) of NCAER and University of Maryland. It has been found that income, type of residence (rural/urban) and educational attainment plays key role in determining the healthcare expenditure and pattern of intra-household transfer in both the states. Across economic groups, it is the poorest that bear the major burden of health costs. Also other caste people spend more on healthcare than schedule castes (SC) and scheduled tribes (ST). Key words: Healthcare expenditure, intra-household transfer, reallocation of resources