Income, Education and Household Health Expenditure: A Rural–Urban Analysis of Orissa, India

HIMANSHU SEKHAR ROUT, DR. SRK GOVERNMENT ARTS COLLEGE (PONDICHERRY UNIVERSITY), YANAM - 533464, INDIA

Abstract

The study examines the effect of income and education of the household on its health expenditure, based on primary data collected from Cuttack and Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporations (for urban area) and Jajpur district (for rural area) of Orissa, India. The study finds that on an average a person spends around nine and eight per cent of his/her income on health expenditure from his / her own pocket in rural and urban areas respectively. Regression analysis indicates that income and education have positive influence on health expenditure while the degree of impact is higher in case of former variable. Income of the household has significant influence on its health expenditure where as the effect of education is insignificant. The effect of income on health expenditure is same in urban and combined areas followed by rural area.