Does Morbidity among Elderly Increase Household Health Care Expenditure?

The study examines the effect of population ageing on health expenditure at the household and individual levels utilising NSS 60^th Round data. It found that one quarter of the elderly reported their health as poor and the proportion increased with increase in age. Disease prevalence among elderly was high. It was more than 40 per cent and it increased with age so that per capita hospitalization cost for the elderly is four times higher than for others. The skewness in health expenditure towards the elderly tends to diminish when we adjust the aged population for their higher risk of getting diseases. Presence of elderly in the household augments per capita hospitalisation cost for the household.