Who is making informal payments for public healthcare in East-Central Europe? An evaluation of socio-economic and spatial variations

Abstract

Informal patient payments are a widespread phenomenon in post-communist countries. In order to identify who is more likely to make informal payments in East-Central Europe, a 2013 survey is used. Reporting data from Special Eurobarometer No. 397 ('Corruption'), the finding is that patients in Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania are significantly more likely to make extra informal payments or to give valuable gifts to medical practitioners or to make a hospital donation additional to the official fees. Women are more likely to make informal payments for healthcare services whilst unemployed patients or those never or almost never having difficulties in paying bills are less likely to make informal payments. The implications of the findings are then explored, displaying the population groups and spaces that need targeting when seeking to tackle informal patient payments.