IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/hlthec/v17y2008i10p1153-1169.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessing horizontal equity in medication treatment among elderly Mexicans: which socioeconomic determinants matter most?

Author

Listed:
  • Jürgen Maurer

Abstract

Many low‐ and middle‐income countries are currently undergoing a dramatic epidemiological transition, with an increasing disease burden due to degenerative noncommunicable diseases. Inexpensive medication treatment often represents a cost‐effective means to prevent, control or cure many of these health conditions. Using micro‐data from the 2001 Mexican Health and Aging Study, we assess horizontal inequity in medication treatment among older Mexicans before the introduction of Popular Health Insurance in Mexico. In doing so, we investigate the role of various dimensions of socioeconomic status for obtaining indicated medication treatment within a comparatively fragmented health‐care system that features relatively high out‐of‐pocket expenditures. Our empirical analysis suggests health insurance coverage as a key socioeconomic determinant of indicated medication use with large and statistically significant positive effects on take‐up. The effects of insurance status thereby clearly dominate any other possible effects of socioeconomic status on medication treatment. Our results thus highlight the importance of access to reliable health care and comprehensive coverage for rational medication use in the management of degenerative diseases. In light of this evidence, we expect that recent Mexican health‐care reforms, which expand health insurance coverage to the previously uninsured population, will alleviate socioeconomic gradients in medication treatment among older people in need. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Suggested Citation

  • Jürgen Maurer, 2008. "Assessing horizontal equity in medication treatment among elderly Mexicans: which socioeconomic determinants matter most?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(10), pages 1153-1169, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:17:y:2008:i:10:p:1153-1169
    DOI: 10.1002/hec.1313
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.1313
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/hec.1313?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dean T. Jamison & Joel G. Breman & Anthony R. Measham & George Alleyne & Mariam Claeson & David B. Evans & Prabhat Jha & Ann Mills & Philip Musgrove, 2006. "Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries, Second Edition," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 7242.
    2. Dana P. Goldman & James P. Smith, 2004. "Can Patient Self-Management Help Explain the SES Health Gradient?," HEW 0403004, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Adriana Lleras-Muney & Frank R. Lichtenberg, 2002. "The Effect of Education on Medical Technology Adoption: Are the More Educated More Likely to Use New Drugs," NBER Working Papers 9185, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. repec:pri:cheawb:case_medicalcompliance.pdf is not listed on IDEAS
    5. repec:pri:rpdevs:case_leroux_menendez_medical_compliance_and_income_health_gradients_aerpp is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Anne Case & Ingrid Le Roux & Alicia Menendez, 2004. "Medical Compliance and Income-Health Gradients," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(2), pages 331-335, May.
    7. repec:pri:rpdevs:case_medicalcompliance is not listed on IDEAS
    8. repec:pri:rpdevs:case_medicalcompliance.pdf is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Pagan, Jose A. & Ross, Sara & Yau, Jeffrey & Polsky, Daniel, 2006. "Self-medication and health insurance coverage in Mexico," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(2), pages 170-177, January.
    10. Wagstaff, Adam & van Doorslaer, Eddy, 2000. "Chapter 34 Equity in health care finance and delivery," Handbook of Health Economics, in: A. J. Culyer & J. P. Newhouse (ed.), Handbook of Health Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 34, pages 1803-1862, Elsevier.
    11. Dana Goldman & James P. Smith, 2005. "Socioeconomic Differences in the Adoption of New Medical Technologies," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(2), pages 234-237, May.
    12. José A. Pagán & Andrea Puig & Beth J. Soldo, 2007. "Health insurance coverage and the use of preventive services by Mexican adults," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(12), pages 1359-1369.
    13. repec:pri:cheawb:case_medicalcompliance is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Office of Health Economics, 2007. "The Economics of Health Care," For School 001490, Office of Health Economics.
    15. Pierre Moïse & Elizabeth Docteur, 2007. "Pharmaceutical Pricing and Reimbursement Policies in Mexico," OECD Health Working Papers 25, OECD Publishing.
    16. Alan D. Lopez & Colin D. Mathers & Majid Ezzati & Dean T. Jamison & Christopher J. L. Murray, 2006. "Global Burden of Disease and Risk Factors," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 7039.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Faden, Laura & Vialle-Valentin, Catherine & Ross-Degnan, Dennis & Wagner, Anita, 2011. "Active pharmaceutical management strategies of health insurance systems to improve cost-effective use of medicines in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review of current evidence," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 100(2), pages 134-143.
    2. DeGraff, Deborah S. & Wong, Rebeca, 2014. "Modeling old-age wealth with endogenous early-life outcomes: The case of Mexico," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 3(C), pages 58-70.
    3. Lambrelli D & O’Donnell O, 2009. "Why Does the Utilization of Pharmaceuticals Vary So Much Across Europe? Evidence from Micro Data on Older Europeans," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 09/06, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    4. Zhang, Hui & Yuen, Peter P., 2016. "Medical Savings Account balance and outpatient utilization: Evidence from Guangzhou, China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 1-10.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jürgen Maurer, 2007. "Assessing Horizontal Equity in Medication Treatment Among Elderly Mexicans: Which Socioeconomic Determinants Matter Most?," MEA discussion paper series 07143, Munich Center for the Economics of Aging (MEA) at the Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy.
    2. Sansani, Shahar, 2011. "The effects of school quality on long-term health," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 1320-1333.
    3. Lambrelli D & O’Donnell O, 2009. "Why Does the Utilization of Pharmaceuticals Vary So Much Across Europe? Evidence from Micro Data on Older Europeans," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 09/06, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    4. Alessandro Petretto, 2013. "On the Fuzzy Boundaries between Public and Private in Health-Care Organization and Funding Systems," Rivista di Politica Economica, SIPI Spa, issue 1, pages 327-370, January-M.
    5. Habyarimana, James & Jack, William, 2011. "Heckle and Chide: Results of a randomized road safety intervention in Kenya," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(11), pages 1438-1446.
    6. repec:idb:brikps:72698 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Jere R. Behrman & Julia A. Behrman & Nykia M. Perez, 2009. "On what diseases and health conditions should new economic research on health and development focus?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(S1), pages 109-128, April.
    8. Siciliani, Luigi & Straume, Odd Rune, 2019. "Competition and equity in health care markets," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 1-14.
    9. Donald Kenkel & Dean Lillard & Alan Mathios, 2006. "The Roles of High School Completion and GED Receipt in Smoking and Obesity," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 24(3), pages 635-660, July.
    10. van Gameren, Edwin, 2010. "Health insurance and use of alternative medicine in Mexico," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 98(1), pages 50-57, November.
    11. Marc Suhrcke & Dieter Urban, 2010. "Are cardiovascular diseases bad for economic growth?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(12), pages 1478-1496, December.
    12. Anderberg, Dan & Chevalier, Arnaud & Wadsworth, Jonathan, 2011. "Anatomy of a health scare: Education, income and the MMR controversy in the UK," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 515-530, May.
    13. Philippe Batifoulier, 2014. "De l’aléa moral du patient aux inégalités d’accès aux soins," EconomiX Working Papers 2014-7, University of Paris Nanterre, EconomiX.
    14. Feyza G. Sahinyazan & Marie‐Ève Rancourt & Vedat Verter, 2021. "Food Aid Modality Selection Problem," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(4), pages 965-983, April.
    15. Grossman, Michael, 2006. "Education and Nonmarket Outcomes," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & F. Welch (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 10, pages 577-633, Elsevier.
    16. Robberstad, Bjarne & Norheim, Ole F., 2011. "Incorporating concerns for equal lifetime health in evaluations of public health programs," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(10), pages 1711-1716, May.
    17. Alexander Bischoff & Tetanye Ekoe & Nicolas Perone & Slim Slama & Louis Loutan, 2009. "Chronic Disease Management in Sub-Saharan Africa: Whose Business Is It?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 6(8), pages 1-13, August.
    18. Alan M. Garber & Jonathan Skinner, 2008. "Is American Health Care Uniquely Inefficient?," NBER Working Papers 14257, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Waitzberg, Ruth & Allin, Sara & Grignon, Michel & Ljungvall, Åsa & Habimana, Katharina & Kantaris, Marios & Thomas, Steve & Rice, Thomas, 2024. "Mitigating the regressivity of private mechanisms of financing healthcare: An Assessment of 29 countries," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    20. Lucius Caviola & Nadira Faulmüller & Jim. A. C. Everett & Julian Savulescu & Guy Kahane, 2014. "The evaluability bias in charitable giving: Saving administration costs or saving lives?," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 9(4), pages 303-315, July.
    21. Robson, Matthew & O’Donnell, Owen & Van Ourti, Tom, 2024. "Aversion to health inequality — Pure, income-related and income-caused," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:17:y:2008:i:10:p:1153-1169. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/jhome/5749 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.