The aim was to explore the factors associated with the financial burden (FB) of medical care, dental care, and medicines among older-aged people in Slovenia, Serbia, and Croatia using EU-SILC 2017. The highest frequency of FB of medical care and medicines was in Croatia (50% and 69.1%, respectively) and of dental care in Slovenia (48.5%). The multivariate logistic regression analysis with FB as an outcome variable showed that the FB of medical care was associated with being married (OR: 1.54), reporting not severe (OR: 1.51) and severe limitations in daily activities (OR: 2.05), having higher education (OR: 2.03), and heavy burden of housing costs (OR: 0.51) in Slovenia, with very bad self-perceived health (OR: 5.23), having the slight (OR: 0.69) or heavy (OR: 0.47) burden of housing costs, making ends meet fairly easily or with some difficulty (OR: 3.58) or with difficulty or great difficulty (OR: 6.80) in Serbia, and with being married (OR: 1.43), having heavy burden of housing costs (OR: 0.62), and making ends meet fairly easily or with some difficulty (OR: 2.08) or with difficulty or great difficulty (OR: 2.52) in Croatia. The older-aged have the FB of healthcare, especially the poorest or those with health problems.

Out-of-pocket payments for health care as one of the ways of health care financing is present in numerous countries and can lead to a financial burden of healthcare. This could lead to restrictions on other necessary goods and lower the expected standard of living. The frequency of out-of-pocket payments is often associated with gender and age. Biological and socio-economic differences between the genders and differences that arise in the aging process can influence the more frequent occurrence of financial burdens due to out-of-pocket payments. There is a difference between men and women aged 65 and over in the prevalence of chronic and malignant diseases, differences in the use of health care, self-assessment of health, poverty, financial independence, and the type of household. All mentioned can lead to a different frequency of out-of-pocket payments and the financial burden of health care.