IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hhs/bergec/2010_008.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Waiting times and socioeconomic status. Evidence from Norway

Author

Listed:

Abstract

We investigate whether socioeconomic status, measured by income and education, affects waiting time when controls for severity and hospital specific conditions are included. We also examine which aspects of the hospital supply (attachment to local hospital, traveling time, or choice of hospital) that matter most for unequal treatment of different socioeconomic groups, and how different behavior responses can create discrimination. The study uses administrative data from all somatic elective inpatient and outpatient hospital stays in Norway. The main results are that we find very little indication of discrimination with regard to income. This result holds both for males and females. We find some indication of discrimination of men with low education as these men have a lower probability of zero waiting time. We also find a pro educational bias for women; as women with only primary education wait about 9 % (13 %) longer than women with upper secondary (tertiary) education.

Suggested Citation

  • Carlsen, Fredrik & Kaarbøe, Oddvar Martin, 2010. "Waiting times and socioeconomic status. Evidence from Norway," Working Papers in Economics 08/10, University of Bergen, Department of Economics.
  • Handle: RePEc:hhs:bergec:2010_008
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://ekstern.filer.uib.no/svf/2010/WP0810.pdf
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cookson R & Laudicella M, 2009. "Do the poor still cost more? The relationship between small area income deprivation and length of stay for elective hip replacement in the English NHS from 2001/2 to 2006/7," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 09/07, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    2. Laudicella, Mauro & Siciliani, Luigi & Cookson, Richard, 2012. "Waiting times and socioeconomic status: Evidence from England," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(9), pages 1331-1341.
    3. Jeremy Hurst & Luigi Siciliani, 2003. "Tackling Excessive Waiting Times for Elective Surgery: A Comparison of Policies in Twelve OECD Countries," OECD Health Working Papers 6, OECD Publishing.
    4. Hagen, Terje P. & Kaarboe, Oddvar M., 2006. "The Norwegian hospital reform of 2002: Central government takes over ownership of public hospitals," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(3), pages 320-333, May.
    5. Eddy van Doorslaer & Xander Koolman & Andrew M. Jones, 2004. "Explaining income‐related inequalities in doctor utilisation in Europe," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(7), pages 629-647, July.
    6. Carlsen, Fredrik & Kaarboe, Oddvar M., 2010. "Norwegian priority guidelines: Estimating the distributional implications across age, gender and SES," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(2-3), pages 264-270, May.
    7. Magnussen, Jon & Hagen, Terje P. & Kaarboe, Oddvar M., 2007. "Centralized or decentralized? A case study of Norwegian hospital reform," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(10), pages 2129-2137, May.
    8. Siciliani, Luigi & Hurst, Jeremy, 2005. "Tackling excessive waiting times for elective surgery: a comparative analysis of policies in 12 OECD countries," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 201-215, May.
    9. Askildsen, Jan Erik & Holmås, Tor Helge & Kaarboe, Oddvar, 2010. "Prioritization and patients' rights: Analysing the effect of a reform in the Norwegian hospital sector," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(2), pages 199-208, January.
    10. Hugh Gravelle & Luigi Siciliani, 2008. "Is waiting‐time prioritisation welfare improving?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(2), pages 167-184, February.
    11. Vrangbã†K, Karsten & ØStergren, Katarina & Birk, Hans Okkels & Winblad, Ulrika, 2007. "Patient reactions to hospital choice in Norway, Denmark, and Sweden," Health Economics, Policy and Law, Cambridge University Press, vol. 2(2), pages 125-152, April.
    12. Grasdal, Astrid & Monstad, Karin, 2009. "Inequity in the use of physician services in Norway. Changing patterns over time," Working Papers in Economics 05/09, University of Bergen, Department of Economics.
    13. Januleviciute, Jurgita & Askildsen, Jan Erik & Holmås, Tor Helge & Kaarbøe, Oddvar & Sutton, Matt, 2010. "The Impact of Different Prioritisation Policies on Waiting Times: A Comparative Analysis of Norway and Scotland," Working Papers in Economics 07/10, University of Bergen, Department of Economics.
    14. Jan Erik Askildsen & Tor Helge Holmås & Oddvar Kaarboe, 2011. "Monitoring prioritisation in the public health‐care sector by use of medical guidelines. The case of Norway," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(8), pages 958-970, August.
    15. Carol Propper & Jenny Eachus & Philip Chan & Nicky Pearson & George Davey Smith, 2005. "Access to health care resources in the UK: the case of care for arthritis," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 14(4), pages 391-406, April.
    16. Luigi Siciliani & Rossella Verzulli, 2009. "Waiting times and socioeconomic status among elderly Europeans: evidence from SHARE," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(11), pages 1295-1306, November.
    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. Laudicella, Mauro & Siciliani, Luigi & Cookson, Richard, 2012. "Waiting times and socioeconomic status: Evidence from England," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(9), pages 1331-1341.
    2. Carlsen, Fredrik & Kaarboe, Oddvar Martin, 2015. "The relationship between educational attainment and waiting time among the elderly in Norway," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(11), pages 1450-1458.
    3. Silvia Angerer & Christian Waibel & Harald Stummer, 2019. "Discrimination in Health Care: A Field Experiment on the Impact of Patients’ Socioeconomic Status on Access to Care," American Journal of Health Economics, MIT Press, vol. 5(4), pages 407-427, Fall.
    4. Laia Bosque‐Mercader & Neus Carrilero & Anna García‐Altés & Guillem López‐Casasnovas & Luigi Siciliani, 2023. "Socioeconomic inequalities in waiting times for planned and cancer surgery: Evidence from Spain," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(5), pages 1181-1201, May.
    5. Grytten, Jostein & Skau, Irene & Sørensen, Rune, 2020. "Who dies early? Education, mortality and causes of death in Norway," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    6. repec:nip:nipewp:05/2015 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Nicolai Fink Simonsen & Anne Sophie Oxholm & Søren Rud Kristensen & Luigi Siciliani, 2020. "What explains differences in waiting times for health care across socioeconomic status?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(12), pages 1764-1785, December.
    8. Gutacker, Nils & Siciliani, Luigi & Cookson, Richard, 2016. "Waiting time prioritisation: Evidence from England," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 140-151.
    9. Kurt R. Brekke & Tor Helge Holmås & Karin Monstad & Odd Rune Straume, 2018. "Socio‐economic status and physicians' treatment decisions," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(3), pages 77-89, March.
    10. Sharma, Anurag & Siciliani, Luigi & Harris, Anthony, 2013. "Waiting times and socioeconomic status: Does sample selection matter?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 659-667.
    11. Landi, Stefano & Ivaldi, Enrico & Testi, Angela, 2018. "Socioeconomic status and waiting times for health services: An international literature review and evidence from the Italian National Health System," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(4), pages 334-351.
    12. Martin, Steve & Siciliani, Luigi & Smith, Peter, 2020. "Socioeconomic inequalities in waiting times for primary care across ten OECD countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 263(C).
    13. Moscelli, Giuseppe & Siciliani, Luigi & Gutacker, Nils & Cookson, Richard, 2018. "Socioeconomic inequality of access to healthcare: Does choice explain the gradient?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 290-314.
    14. Aakvik, Arild & Holmås, Tor Helge & Kjerstad, Egil, 2015. "Prioritization and the elusive effect on welfare – A Norwegian health care reform revisited," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 290-300.
    15. Karin Monstad & Lars Birger Engesæter & Birgitte Espehaug, 2014. "Waiting Time And Socioeconomic Status—An Individual‐Level Analysis," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(4), pages 446-461, April.
    16. Joana Cima & Paulo Guimarães & Álvaro Almeida, 2018. "Explaining the gender gap in waiting times for scheduled surgery in the Portuguese National Health Service," FEP Working Papers 607, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    17. Magdalena Tuczyńska & Rafał Staszewski & Maja Matthews-Kozanecka & Ewa Baum, 2022. "Impact of Socioeconomic Status on the Perception of Accessibility to and Quality of Healthcare Services during the COVID-19 Pandemic among Poles—Pilot Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-10, May.
    18. Moscelli, Giuseppe & Gravelle, Hugh & Siciliani, Luigi, 2023. "The effect of hospital choice and competition on inequalities in waiting times," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 169-201.
    19. Turner, Alex J & Francetic, Igor & Watkinson, Ruth & Gillibrand, Stephanie & Sutton, Matt, 2022. "Socioeconomic inequality in access to timely and appropriate care in emergency departments," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    20. Jakobsson, Niklas & Kotsadam, Andreas & Syse, Astri & Øien, Henning, 2016. "Gender bias in public long-term care? A survey experiment among care managers," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 131(PB), pages 126-138.
    21. Nikolova, Silviya & Sinko, Arthur & Sutton, Matt, 2015. "Do maximum waiting times guarantees change clinical priorities for elective treatment? Evidence from Scotland," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 72-88.
    22. Monstad, Karin & Engesæter, Lars Birger & Espehaug, Birgitte, 2010. "Waiting time and socioeconomic status - an individual–level analysis," Working Papers in Economics 11/10, University of Bergen, Department of Economics.

    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. Carlsen, Fredrik & Kaarboe, Oddvar Martin, 2015. "The relationship between educational attainment and waiting time among the elderly in Norway," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(11), pages 1450-1458.
    2. Jan Erik Askildsen & Tor Helge Holmås & Oddvar Kaarboe, 2011. "Monitoring prioritisation in the public health‐care sector by use of medical guidelines. The case of Norway," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(8), pages 958-970, August.
    3. Carlsen, Fredrik & Kaarboe, Oddvar M., 2010. "Norwegian priority guidelines: Estimating the distributional implications across age, gender and SES," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(2-3), pages 264-270, May.
    4. Askildsen, Jan Erik & Holmås, Tor Helge & Kaarboe, Oddvar, 2010. "Prioritization and patients' rights: Analysing the effect of a reform in the Norwegian hospital sector," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(2), pages 199-208, January.
    5. Gutacker, Nils & Siciliani, Luigi & Cookson, Richard, 2016. "Waiting time prioritisation: Evidence from England," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 140-151.
    6. Januleviciute, Jurgita & Askildsen, Jan Erik & Holmås, Tor Helge & Kaarbøe, Oddvar & Sutton, Matt, 2010. "The Impact of Different Prioritisation Policies on Waiting Times: A Comparative Analysis of Norway and Scotland," Working Papers in Economics 07/10, University of Bergen, Department of Economics.
    7. Johar, Meliyanni & Jones, Glenn & Keane, Micheal P. & Savage, Elizabeth & Stavrunova, Olena, 2013. "Discrimination in a universal health system: Explaining socioeconomic waiting time gaps," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 181-194.
    8. Karin Monstad & Lars Birger Engesæter & Birgitte Espehaug, 2014. "Waiting Time And Socioeconomic Status—An Individual‐Level Analysis," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(4), pages 446-461, April.
    9. Johar, Meliyanni & Jones, Glenn & Keane, Micheal P. & Savage, Elizabeth & Stavrunova, Olena, 2013. "Discrimination in a universal health system: Explaining socioeconomic waiting time gaps," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 181-194.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Health Care Markets; Regulations: Public Health;

    JEL classification:

    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

    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:hhs:bergec:2010_008. 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: Kjell Erik Lommerud (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iouibno.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.