Paying informally for public health care in Albania: scarce resources or governance failure?
Sonila Tomini & Wim Groot
#2012-070
Informal payments for health care are common in most former communist
countries. This paper explores the demand side of these payments in
Albania. Using tobit and Heckman selection models we control for
individual determinants of informal payments in outpatient and inpatient
health care. Propensity score matching techniques are used to
investigate the changes in the characteristics of people paying
informally over the different years. Our findings suggest that
vulnerable groups in society remain less protected against such payments
and policy measures have not reached the most deprived regions of the
country.
Key words: informal payment, health policy, Heckman selection model,
propensity score matching.
JEL Codes: I18, I1, P36, C24