Background:Background: The General Mutual Benefit Fund for Civil Servants and State Employees of Côte d'Ivoire (MUGEFCI; Mutuelle Générale des Fonctionnaires et Agents de l'État de Côte d'Ivoire) is a health mutual fund providing coverage (medical consultations, laboratory tests and...

Background:Background: In spite of the important progress made in the abortive treatment of acute migraine episodes since the introduction of triptans, reduction of pain and associated symptoms is in many cases still not as effective nor as fast as would be desirable. Recent research pays more...

We describe the structure and present situation of the Chinese healthcare system and discuss its primary problems and challenges. We discuss problems with inefficient burden sharing, adverse provider incentives and huge inequities, and seek explanations in the structural features of the Chinese...

Background:Background: The credibility of contingent valuation studies has been questioned because of the potential occurrence of scope insensitivity, i.e. that respondents do not react to higher quantities or qualities of a good. Abstract: Objective:Objective: The aim of this study was to...

Background:Background: Weight management is considered a key therapeutic strategy in type 2 diabetes mellitus. However, little is known about the impact of weight loss or body mass index (BMI) reduction on type 2 diabetes-related healthcare costs. Abstract: Objective:Objective: The aim of this...

Background:Background: Several countries have now passed laws that place limitations on where smokers may smoke. A range of smoking-cessation treatments have become available, many of which have documented increased quit rates. Population surveys show that most smokers wish to quit, and most...

Background:Background: When guidelines for health economic evaluations prescribe that a societal perspective should be adopted, productivity costs should be included. However, previous research suggests that, in practice, productivity costs are often neglected. This may considerably bias the...

In past decades, studies focusing on new chemotherapeutic agents for patients with inoperable non-small-cell lung cancer have reported only modest gains in survival. These health gains are achieved at considerable cost, but economic evidence is lacking on superiority of one agent in terms of...

Background:Background: Cystic fibrosis (CF) is the most common life-shortening genetic disorder among Whites worldwide. Because many of these patients experience chronic endobronchial colonization and have to take antibiotics and be treated as inpatients, societal costs of CF may be high. As the...