Healthcare Expenditure Stratification and Treatment-Related Vulnerability among Agrarian Bereaved Households in Karnataka
Keywords:
healthcare expenditure, household economic resources, health service use, rural health, KarnatakaAbstract
This article examines how annual household healthcare-expenditure categories vary across resources, family composition and reported treatment history among agrarian-bereaved households in Karnataka. We analyse 184 available respondent-level records from Bellary and Raichur, using grouped expenditure measures, regression models and sensitivity specifications with explicit restrictions on interpretation. In the adjusted model using 179 complete observations, larger household size is associated with higher odds of a healthcare-expenditure category of at least ₹25,000 (odds ratio approximately 2.24; 95% confidence interval 1.04–4.83). Prior treatment history is not statistically significant in that specification. The study distinguishes household-level healthcare spending from directly verified medical payments, clinical needs, or insurance protection, and identifies within-sample expenditure stratification.
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