IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/esr/wpaper/hrb02.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Equity in the Utilization of Health Care in Ireland

Author

Listed:
  • Layte, Richard

    (Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI))

  • Nolan, Brian

    (Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI))

Abstract

This paper analyses the extent of equity of health service delivery across the income distribution in Ireland – that is the extent to which there is equal treatment for equal need irrespective of income. We find that almost all services, apart from dental and optician services, are used more by those at the lower end of the income distribution, but that this group also have the greatest need for health care. The comparison of health need to health care delivery across the income distribution without standardising for confounding factors suggests that those in higher income groups receive more health care for a given health status indicating inequity. However, need for health care is highest among the elderly and this group also tend to be at the bottom of the income distribution. Once we standardise for age, sex and location we find that hospital services are distributed equitably across the income distribution, whereas GP and prescription services tend to be pro-poor (used more by those with lower incomes for a given health status) and dental and optician services tend to be pro-rich (used more by those with higher incomes for a given health status).
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Layte, Richard & Nolan, Brian, 2003. "Equity in the Utilization of Health Care in Ireland," Papers HRBWP02, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    • Handle: RePEc:esr:wpaper:hrb02
    Note: Published by ESRI, ISSC & University of Ulster
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.esri.ie/pubs/OPEA36.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wagstaff, Adam & Paci, Pierella & van Doorslaer, Eddy, 1991. "On the measurement of inequalities in health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 33(5), pages 545-557, January.
    2. O'Donnell, Owen & Propper, Carol, 1991. "Equity and the distribution of UK National Health Service resources," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 1-19, May.
    3. Fadden, Lillian, 2003. "The Impact of the Extension of the General Medical Services Scheme to Cover All Persons Aged 70 Years and Over: A Case Study," Papers HRBWP06, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    4. Wagstaff, Adam & van Doorslaer, Eddy & Paci, Pierella, 1989. "Equity in the Finance and Delivery of Health Care: Some Tentative Cross-country Comparisons," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 5(1), pages 89-112, Spring.
    5. Mooney, Gavin & Hall, Jane & Donaldson, Cam & Gerard, Karen, 1992. "Reweighing heat: Response to Culyer, van Doorslaer and Wagstaff," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 199-205, August.
    6. Culyer, A. J. & van Doorslaer, Eddy & Wagstaff, Adam, 1992. "Utilisation as a measure of equity by Mooney, Hall, Donaldson and Gerard," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 93-98, May.
    7. Nolan, Brian, 1991. "The Utilisation and Financing of Health Services in Ireland," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number GRS155.
    8. Adam Wagstaff & Eddy Van Doorslaer, 1994. "Measuring inequalities in health in the presence of multiple‐category morbidity indicators," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 3(4), pages 281-291, July.
    9. van Doorslaer, Eddy & Wagstaff, Adam & Bleichrodt, Han & Calonge, Samuel & Gerdtham, Ulf-G. & Gerfin, Michael & Geurts, Jose & Gross, Lorna & Hakkinen, Unto & Leu, Robert E., 1997. "Income-related inequalities in health: some international comparisons," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 93-112, February.
    10. Tussing, A. Dale, 1985. "Irish Medical Care Resources: An Economic Analysis," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number GRS126.
    11. Culyer, A. J. & van Doorslaer, Eddy & Wagstaff, Adam, 1992. "Access, utilisation and equity: A further comment," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 207-210, August.
    12. Wagstaff, Adam & van Doorslaer, Eddy, 1992. "Equity in the finance of health care: Some international comparisons," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 361-387, December.
    13. Mooney, Gavin & Hall, Jane & Donaldson, Cam & Gerard, Karen, 1991. "Utilisation as a measure of equity: weighing heat?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(4), pages 475-480.
    14. Kakwani, Nanak & Wagstaff, Adam & van Doorslaer, Eddy, 1997. "Socioeconomic inequalities in health: Measurement, computation, and statistical inference," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 87-103, March.
    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. Richard Layte & Anne Nolan, 2015. "Eligibility for free GP care and the utilisation of GP services by children in Ireland," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 3-27, March.
    2. Nolan, Anne, 2011. "An extension in eligibility for free primary care and avoidable hospitalisations: A natural experiment," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(7), pages 978-985.
    3. Richard Layte & Anne Nolan, 2015. "Income-related inequity in the use of GP services by children: a comparison of Ireland and Scotland," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 16(5), pages 489-506, June.
    4. Brendan Walsh & Mary Silles & Ciaran O'Neill, 2012. "The Role Of Private Medical Insurance In Socio‐Economic Inequalities In Cancer Screening Uptake In Ireland," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(10), pages 1250-1256, October.
    5. Layte, Richard & Nolan, Anne, 2013. "Income-Related Inequity in the Use of GP Services: A Comparison of Ireland and Scotland," Papers WP454, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    6. Miriam M. Wiley, 2005. "The Irish health system: developments in strategy, structure, funding and delivery since 1980," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 14(S1), pages 169-186, September.
    7. Richard Layte, 2007. "An Analysis of the Impact of Age and Proximity of Death on Health Care Costs in Ireland," Papers WP193, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    8. Thomas, Stephen & Layte, Richard, 2009. "General Practitioner Care," Book Chapters, in: Layte, Richard (ed.),Projecting the Impact of Demographic Change on the Demand for and Delivery of Healthcare in Ireland, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    9. Smyth, Emer & McCoy, Selina, 2009. "Investing in Education: Combating Educational Disadvantage," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number RS006.
    10. Hudson, Eibhlin & Nolan, Anne, 2015. "Public healthcare eligibility and the utilisation of GP services by older people in Ireland," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 6(C), pages 24-43.
    11. Darker, Catherine D. & Donnelly-Swift, Erica & Whiston, Lucy, 2018. "Demographic factors and attitudes that influence the support of the general public for the introduction of universal healthcare in Ireland: A national survey," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(2), pages 147-156.
    12. Edel Doherty & Anne Dee & Ciaran O’Neill, 2012. "Estimating the Amount of Overweight and Obesity Related Health-Care Use in the Republic of Ireland Using SLÁN Data," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 43(2), pages 227-250.
    13. Russell, Helen & Maître, Bertrand & Watson, Dorothy, 2016. "Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders and Stress, Anxiety and Depression in Ireland: Evidence from the QNHS 2002–2013," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number RS53.
    14. Samantha Smith, 2010. "The Irish ‘health basket’: a basket case?," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 11(3), pages 343-350, June.
    15. Briggs, Adam D.M., 2013. "How changes to Irish healthcare financing are affecting universal health coverage," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(1), pages 45-49.
    16. Layte, Richard, 2006. "An Analysis of the Impact of Age and Proximity of Death on Health Care Costs in Ireland," Papers HRBWP24, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    17. Smith, Samantha & Walsh, Brendan & Wren, Maev-Ann & Barron, Steve & Morgenroth, Edgar & Eighan, James & Lyons, Seán, 2019. "Geographic profile of healthcare needs and non-acute healthcare supply in Ireland," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number RS90.
    18. Richard Layte, 2007. "Equity in the Utilisation of Hospital Inpatient Services in Ireland? An Improved Approach to the Measurement of Health Need," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 38(2), pages 191-210.

    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. Mohammad Hajizadeh & Luke B. Connelly & James R.G. Butler & Aredshir Khosravi, 2012. "Unmet need and met unneed in health care utilisation in Iran," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 39(6), pages 400-422, May.
    2. Layte, Richard, 2007. "Equity in the Use of Health Care in Ireland?," Book Chapters, in: Nolan, Brian (ed.),The Provision and Use of Health Services, Health Inequalities and Health and Social Gain, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    3. Yasushi Ohkusa & Chika Honda, 2003. "Updated Horizontal Inequity in Health Care Utilization in Japan: Comparisons with OECD Countries Using an Original Survey," ISER Discussion Paper 0585, Institute of Social and Economic Research, The University of Osaka.
    4. Rosa M. Urbanos-Garrido, "undated". "Measurement of Inequity in the Delivery of Public Health Care: Evidence from Spain (1997)," Working Papers 2001-15, FEDEA.
    5. Magnus Lindelow, 2006. "Sometimes more equal than others: how health inequalities depend on the choice of welfare indicator," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(3), pages 263-279, March.
    6. Magnus Lindelow, 2002. "Sometimes More Equal than Others How the choice of welfare indicator can affect the measurement of health inequalities and the incidence of public spending," Economics Series Working Papers WPS/2002-15, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    7. Mark Blaug, 1998. "Where are we now in British health economics?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 7(S1), pages 63-78, August.
    8. I. Josa & A. Aguado, 2020. "Measuring Unidimensional Inequality: Practical Framework for the Choice of an Appropriate Measure," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 149(2), pages 541-570, June.
    9. Gerdtham, Ulf-G & Sundberg, Gun, 1996. "Measuring Income-Related Health Inequalities in Sweden," SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance 120, Stockholm School of Economics.
    10. Kenya Valeria M. S. Noronha & M™nica Viegas Andrade, 2002. "Desigualdades sociais em saúde: evidências empíricas sobre o caso brasileiro," Textos para Discussão Cedeplar-UFMG td171, Cedeplar, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais.
    11. Chen, Zhuo & Roy, Kakoli, 2009. "Calculating concentration index with repetitive values of indicators of economic welfare," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 169-175, January.
    12. M. Dolores Montoya Diaz, 2002. "Socio‐economic health inequalities in Brazil: gender and age effects," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 11(2), pages 141-154, March.
    13. Matthew Sutton, 2002. "Vertical and horizontal aspects of socio‐economic inequity in general practitioner contacts in Scotland," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 11(6), pages 537-549, September.
    14. Lu, Jui-fen R. & Leung, Gabriel M. & Kwon, Soonman & Tin, Keith Y.K. & Van Doorslaer, Eddy & O'Donnell, Owen, 2007. "Horizontal equity in health care utilization evidence from three high-income Asian economies," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 199-212, January.
    15. Andrew M. Jones & Ángel López-Nicolás, 2002. "The importance of individual heterogeneity in the decomposition of measures of socioeconomic inequality in health: An approach based on quantile regression," Working Papers, Research Center on Health and Economics 626, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    16. Costa-Font, Joan & Hernández-Quevedo, Cristina & Jiménez-Rubio, Dolores, 2014. "Income inequalities in unhealthy life styles in England and Spain," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 13(C), pages 66-75.
    17. Xu, Ke Tom, 2006. "State-level variations in income-related inequality in health and health achievement in the US," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 457-464, July.
    18. Eddy van Doorslaer & Xander Koolman, 2004. "Explaining the differences in income‐related health inequalities across European countries," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(7), pages 609-628, July.
    19. Lee, Miaw-Chwen & Jones, Andrew Michael, 2007. "Understanding differences in income-related health inequality between geographic regions in Taiwan using the SF-36," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(2-3), pages 186-195, October.
    20. Andrew M. Jones & Angel López Nicolás, 2004. "Measurement and explanation of socioeconomic inequality in health with longitudinal data," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(10), pages 1015-1030, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    hrb;

    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:esr:wpaper:hrb02. 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: Sarah Burns (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/esriiie.html .

    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.