title: Informal payments in the health sector: a case study from Turkey.
abstract: The practice of making informal payments in the health sector is common in a number of countries. It has become an important policy issue around the world. These payments can jeopardize governments' attempts to improve equity and access to care and policies targeted to the poor. It is widely believed that a considerable amount of out-of-pocket payment in the health sector in Turkey is informal. To examine this issue, we used a questionnaire adopted from a wider international study. We concluded that informal payments in Turkey are significant and have important implications for health care reform.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Care Management, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey. mtatar@hacettepe.edu.tr
authors.forename: Mehtap
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tatar
authors.forename: Hacer
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ozgen
authors.forename: Bayram
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sahin
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Belli
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Berman
mesh_terms: D005382:Financing, Personal / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D018166:Health Care Reform / Q000191:economics*; D019981:Health Care Sector / Q000941:ethics*; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000191:economics* / Q000941:ethics; D006801:Humans; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D017149:Private Sector; D017150:Public Sector; D012935:Social Justice; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014421:Turkey