Can people afford to pay for health care? New evidence on financial protection in Ireland: summary

Overview

This review assesses the extent to which people in Ireland experience financial hardship when they use health services, including medicines. The analysis draws on microdata from the household budget surveys carried out by the Irish Central Statistics Office in 2009–2010 and 2015–2016 (‎the latest data available at the time of publication)‎. It focuses on two indicators of financial protection: catastrophic health spending and impoverishing health spending. It also considers the presence of access barriers leading to unmet need for health care.