On paper, the state of global healthcare has never been better. There are more hospitals now than ever before, better medical facilities, more health insurance programs, and more medical personnel than ever before. But lurking behind this positive trend is the tougher reality that whereas the number of medical facilities is increasing, the gap between treatment accessibility is also on the rise.
Until roughly the year 2015, the world metrics suggested that while there was some scope for improvement in the issue of access to healthcare outcomes, such an outcome was possible without the possibility of financial stress for the family. But ever since, the situation has become different. Even as there has been an enhancement in the number of people who can avail themselves of health services, the possibility of financial difficulties has been and perhaps has even risen.
Yet again, this is more segmented than a consistent trend. This average state of affairs itself masks that greater availability is associated with rising out-of-pocket expenses, in particular among the poorest families.
The fact is, disaggregated data shows that women have always ended up with weaker access to health services compared to men in all countries. The worrying trend, however, is that women who come from poorer, less educated backgrounds have been affected. There has been no change during the past ten years to close the gap that already exists between women who come from better and poorer backgrounds.
For most of the women, the problem is not distance but the costs involved. The cost of transport, consultation, medicines, as well as the lost revenue for the day, makes accessing the clinic, which is the feasible option, even less feasible.
Age, Disability, and the Cost of Survival
The most vulnerable are Elderlies, who are drained economically through long-term medication. For young families, a poor health status for mothers means a poor health status for children, generating a personal problem that snowballs into a family disaster.
It is double-trouble for persons with disabilities. Even where there is an availability of health services, cost-related expenses linked to hospital visits, health equipment, and home health services make health care unaffordable and thus inaccessible to the communities. Lack of proximity to health facilities does not help where there are cost and administrative constraints.
There has been a gradual out-of-pocket expenditure on health over the past two decades at a time when the level of poverty in the world has been declining. Poor people consider health expenditure to be an aspect that contributes greatly to their levels of severe poverty as opposed to their previous experience. Women specifically impact their own health in that they put off their own health care.
It does not affect wealthy people only. The increasing expenses of outpatient care and medications are pushing financially unstable families on the verge of bankruptcy. These families are not considered to be living at or below poverty levels; however, if they have poor health, they can lose their financial sustainability.
Different Regions, Same Crisis
The problem with families in rural areas is that healthcare facilities are very far, but in urban areas, patients have healthcare facilities at walking distance—but very expensive. This problem is prevalent all over.
Africa & Southeast Asia: Results are widespread, with limited access for poorest women.
Latin America: Although progress has been seen in tackling infectious diseases, research funding expenditures are high because of chronic disorders.
South Asia: Noncommunicable illnesses have received more attention from the richer class than from the poorer segments of society due to the high cost of medicines.
Europe: Services are widespread, but the needy and the physically disabled lack access.
Many people just stop using the healthcare system because they know that the services are not affordable for them. Many people just do not appear in healthcare statistics or in the statistics of those living with poverty. It is a silent crisis. The Hidden Cost of Staying Alive In most instances, they are addressed by cutting food, removing children from school, and even forgoing satisfying one’s basic needs in order for treatments to proceed. The influence of a disaster occasioned by poverty in health care has not got the attention that it requires due to its catastrophic nature. However, it is important to note that the first people to be displaced by this lack of capacity within the healthcare system, even after new medical facilities have been put up, are the poor. Medicines alone constitute the primary cause of high medical bills for most nations, with poor families being the greatest contributors.
It appears that the goal of Universal Health Coverage could be reached on paper, but millions more would still be left in the margins of UHC. So long as progress has been measured with averages, health care services will be viewed as good but will widen inequalities. The power of health care would be reached when health care services will be measured by how they can safeguard those who have less in society: the elderly, the disable, patients with chronic diseases, and those who would always be at the edge. When that happens, health care would no longer be near and accessible.
