Choice of healthcare provider following reform in Vietnam

Table 5 Average household expenditure per episode by providers and expenditure quintiles in Vietnamese dong

	Equalized household expenditure quintiles					Total
	Poorest	2	3	4	Richest
Self treatment	11,854	15,595	18,495	29,945	32,063	19,616
providers (privatre+public)	31,755	42,504	46,344	40,127	63,059	45,887
Private providers	24,915	30,004	34,496	34,645	47,882	35,206
Traditional healer	39,290	49,659	52,881	38,421	26,224	38,236
Privatehealth care	23,645	28,730	32,432	33,995	52,379	34,803
Public providers	56,653	104,548	128,806	60,526	127,787	95,795
Commune health station	32,719	43,950	82,418	36,314	38,808	48,096
District health center	44,940	148,116	187,857	48,333	56,813	80,031
Province/central hospital	158,375	163,206	169,700	110,402	363,858	209,144
Total	23,428	33,997	38,228	38,354	58,179	39,191

Table 5 shows that the average household expenditure per episode of illness is less for self-treatment (919,616 VND) and for private providers (35,206 VND) than for public providers (95,795 VND). The average household health expenditure for a single illness episode is higher for hospital treatment than for district health centres and commune health stations.
HH is the abbreviation of household; p-value for the comparison between the lowest and highest quintile groups; *** denotes significant at the 1% level; **denotes significant at 5% level. Percentage shares are shown within brackets.

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