The elderly: drug expenditure patterns and price growth
Date
2006-04-05
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Abstract
Drug expenditure among elderly has reached 46.4 percent of total health care costs in the Philippines. Many studies have looked at factors that affect the drug pattern expenditure of elderly. This study examines the factors that influence expenditure and price growth of medicines. Data from the 1996 Philippine Elderly Survey (PES) and Price Matrix from the National Drug Price Monitoring Board were used in the analysis. Ordinary Least Square regression· analysis was conducted using drug expenditure as the dependent variable. Independent variables were constructed using predisposing social characteristics, enabling factors and the need for health care. Results show that factors such as age, location, poor health status, medical condition (high blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis, kidney problems and cataracts) have significant effect on the drug expenditure among the elderly. On the other hand, RA 9257 has insignificant effect on the curtailment on the price growth of drugs.
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Keywords
Drug expenditure, Drug pricing, Pharmaceutical industry, Healthcare, Medicine