The article titled “Assessing the Equity and Coverage Policy Sensitivity of Financial Protection Indicators in Europe,” published in the Journal of Health Policy, examines the policy sensitivity of two commonly used catastrophic spending indicators in Europe: the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicator 3.8.2 and the WHO Regional Office for Europe (WHO/Europe) indicator. The study analyzes harmonized household budget survey data from 27 European Union countries, exploring the impact of medicines co-payment policies on financial protection, with findings indicating that the WHO/Europe indicator is more sensitive to these policies than the SDG indicator.
In their article, Jonathan Cylus and his team explore how different financial protection indicators used across Europe vary in their sensitivity to health policies, particularly co-payment systems for medicines. The study highlights the importance of selecting the right indicator to monitor progress towards universal health coverage. By analyzing data from over 500,000 households across 27 EU countries, the authors found that the WHO/Europe indicator offers a more nuanced understanding of how protective policies reduce the risk of catastrophic health spending, compared to the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicator. This finding emphasizes the role of policy design in ensuring equity within health systems.