In Paraguay, 49.4% of total healthcare spending came from people’s pockets, in 2017. For the population in the poorest income quintile, this represented a high proportion of household income.
The budget of the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare grew at an annual rate of 18% between 2008 and 2017. Although private health spending has been decreasing its relative weight in the composition of total health spending, it continues to be the main source of financing for the health system, accounting for 54.1% of total spending.
It is concluded that it is necessary to increase public financing for health in an efficient and sustainable manner, with an articulation and integration with other social programs in a broader context of social protection. One of these challenges is to increase social protection and thus its prepayment, since half of total health spending is through out-of-pocket spending, which is the most regressive way of financing health spending.