Exemption from cost sharing for low income groups was not continued. Health care measures building from this programme were also included in the Strategic Development Plan of Latvia for 2010-13 (see Chapter 1, Section 2.4). Health expenditure as a proportion of all household expenditures rose following the financial crisis, having fallen in the run up to 2011, very possibly due to the prior application of exemptions. In the 2013 EU-SILC survey, of those surveyed reporting unmet need for medical examination, 23% of Latvian respondents reported that cost (“too expensive”) as an explanation (Figure 2.1). Unmet needs for medical examination where cost is a barrier appears to have increased since the financial crisis.