Healthcare affordability in Latvia: experience of comparative analysis

The article presents the basic principles of access to health care from the perspective of economics. The affordability of healthcare implies adequate medical expenses and is based on the principle of equity. Based on a statistical analysis of international survey data provides a comparative assessment of healthcare affordability in Latvia, offered realistic solutions to one of the most pressing problems to improve the quality of life of the population. The healthcare access is determined by two areas of positive development of the country - the economic growth and the institutional maturity, synthesized by social justice. In other words, greater accessibility of medical services for the population can and should be achieved not only by increasing the labor productivity of workers, introducing new technologies and other components of economic growth, but also by adjusting higher-quality state and non-state institutions, their effective interaction along the paths to achieve economic growth and quality of life of the population.