In this paper, we aim to present a critical review of the key issues in empirical analysis of causal impacts of interventions encouraging progress towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC) objectives in low- and middle-income countries , namely improving coverage of essential health services and financial risk protection in health and considering both their level and distribution.

We will review published theoretical and empirical literature to identify major empirical questions involved in such causal impact analysis, including: understanding the design of the interventions, their intended aims and pathways of anticipated impacts; availability of required data with relevant information and disaggregation; policy relevance of the evaluation questions and the findings; and, most importantly, how recent econometric advancements in programme evaluation can be used to address some common estimation challenges.

Using the evaluation of the National Health Insurance Scheme in Indonesia, we will present a case study to illustrate how some of these questions could be addressed.