This file is part of IDEAS, which uses RePEc data


[ Papers | Articles | Software | Books | Chapters | Authors | Institutions | JEL Classification | NEP reports | Search | New papers by email | Author registration | Rankings | Volunteers | FAQ | Blog | Help! ]

Income-Related Inequality in the Use of Medical Care in 21 OECD Countries

Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics
Author Info
Eddy van Doorslaer
Cristina Masseria

Additional information is available for the following registered author(s):

Abstract

  1. This study updates and extends a previous study on equity in physician utilisation for a subset of the countries analyzed here (Van Doorslaer, Koolman and Puffer, 2002). It updates results to 2000 for 13 countries and adds new results for eight countries: Australia, Finland, France, Hungary, Mexico, Norway, Switzerland and Sweden. Both simple quintile distributions and concentration indices were used to assess horizontal equity, i.e. the extent to which adults in equal need for physician care appear to have equal rates of medical care utilisation.
  2. With respect to physician utilisation, need is more concentrated among the worse off, but after “standardizing out” these need differences, significant horizontal inequity favoring the better off is found in about half of the countries, both for the probability and the total number of visits. The degree of pro-rich inequity in doctor use is highest in the US, followed by Mexico, Finland, Portugal and Sweden.
  3. In the majority ...


  1. Cette étude actualise et étend le champ d'investigation d'une étude antérieure sur l'équité de l'utilisation des services des médecins effectuée pour un sous-ensemble de pays analysés ici (Van Doorslaer, Koolman et Puffer, 2002). Elle actualise les résultats jusqu’à l’année 2000 pour treize pays et incorpore de nouveaux résultats pour huit autres pays de l'OCDE : l’Australie, la Finlande, la France, la Hongrie, le Mexique, la Norvège, la Suisse et la Suède. Elle utilise à la fois les distributions par quintile et les indices de concentration pour évaluer l'équité horizontale, c’est-à-dire dans quelle mesure des adultes ayant un égal besoin de soins médicaux ont apparemment des taux identiques d'utilisation de soins médicaux.
  2. Pour ce qui est de l'utilisation des médecins, les besoins en services médicaux ont tendance à être plus concentrés parmi les catégories défavorisées, mais après avoir pris en compte ces différences de besoins, on observe une iniquité horizontale positive ...

Download Info
To download:

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. Information about this may be contained in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/687501760705
File Format: text/html
File Function:
Download Restriction: no

Publisher Info
Paper provided by OECD, Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs in its series OECD Health Working Papers with number 14.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Length:
Date of creation: 11 May 2004
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:oec:elsaad:14-en

Contact details of provider:
Postal: 2 rue Andre Pascal, 75775 Paris Cedex 16
Email:
Web page: http://www.oecd.org
More information through EDIRC

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: ().

Related research
Keywords:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets
I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
I19 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Other

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)
  1. Hernández Quevedo, C & Jiménez Rubio, D, 2008. "A comparison of the health status and health care utilisation patterns between foreigners and the national population in Spain: new evidence from the Spanish National Health Survey," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 08/22, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York. [Downloadable!]
  2. Justina A.V. Fischer & Benno Torgler, 2006. "Does Envy Destroy Social Fundamentals? The Impact Of Relative Income Position On Social Capital," STICERD - Development Economics Papers 46, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Adam Wagstaff, 2007. "Health systems in East Asia: what can developing countries learn from Japan and the Asian Tigers?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(5), pages 441-456. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Rice, N & Robone, S & Smith, P.C, 2008. "International Comparison of Public Sector Performance: The Use of Anchoring Vignettes to adjust Self-Reported Data," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 08/28, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York. [Downloadable!]
  5. Justina A.V. Fischer & Benno Torgler, 2006. "The Effect of Relative Income Position on Social Capital," Economics Bulletin, Economics Bulletin, vol. 26(4), pages 1-20. [Downloadable!]
  6. Nabanita Datta Gupta & Nicolai Kristensen, 2008. "Work environment satisfaction and employee health: panel evidence from Denmark, France and Spain, 1994–2001," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 51-61, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Jiménez Rubio, Dolores, 2008. "Equity in the Use of Health Care Services by Immigrants in the Spanish National Health Care System," Estudios de Economía Aplicada, Estudios de Economía Aplicada, vol. 26, pages 211-230, Septiembr. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Mª Luz González Alvarez & Antonio Clavero Barranquero, 2008. "An analysis of income-related inequalities in the health care use by dynamic models," Hacienda Pública Española, IEF, vol. 186(3), pages 9-42, October. [Downloadable!]
  9. Hai Zhong, 2007. "Equity in Pharmaceutical Utilization in Ontario: A Cross Section and Over Time Analysis," University of Western Ontario, RBC Financial Group Economic Policy Research Institute Working Papers 20071, University of Western Ontario, RBC Financial Group Economic Policy Research Institute. [Downloadable!]
  10. Dolores Jiménez-Rubio & Peter C. Smith & Eddy Van Doorslaer, 2008. "Equity in health and health care in a decentralised context: evidence from Canada," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(3), pages 377-392. [Downloadable!]
  11. Unto Häkkinen, 2005. "The impact of changes in Finland's health care system," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 14(S1), pages S101-S118. [Downloadable!]
  12. Massimo Baldini & Gilberto Turati, 2006. "Long-run and short-run constraints in the access to private health care services: evidence from selected european countries," Center for the Analysis of Public Policies (CAPP) 0611, Universita di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Dipartimento di Economia Politica. [Downloadable!]
  13. DAVID DORN & Justina Fischer & GEBHARD KIRCHGÄSSNER & ALFONSO SOUSA-POZA, 2005. "Is It Culture or Democracy? The Impact of Democracy, Income, and Culture on Happiness," University of St. Gallen Department of Economics working paper series 2005 2005-12, Department of Economics, University of St. Gallen. [Downloadable!]
Statistics
Access and download statistics

Did you know? You can import bibliographic info in various formats into you bibliographic tool, or just into your word processor. See under "publisher info" on each abstract page.

This page was last updated on 2009-11-17.


This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Department of Economics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Connecticut using RePEc data on a server sponsored by the Society for Economic Dynamics.