This paper investigates the level of catastrophic out-of-pocket pharmaceutical (OOP) expenditures and their impoverishment effect in Poland.

The Crisis Assistance Program (CAP) is a newly developed social protection scheme in South Korea. It was implemented in 2006 in order to assist individuals experiencing a sudden or temporary financial emergency. CAP provides temporary assistance to cover the direct user fees associated with...

Catastrophe and poverty increased from 2004 to 2010. However, given that the realization of some recent policies will affect the financial burden of OOP payments on households, the findings of this study need to be replicated. </AbstractSection> Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015

According to the catastrophic health expenditure methodology a house-hold is in catastrophe if its health out-of-pocket budget share exceeds a critical threshold. We develop a conceptual framework for addressing three questions in relation to this methodology, namely: 1. Can a budget share be...