title: [High and low use of insurance benefits. A comparison of 2 Norwegian municipalities--Båtsfjord in Finnmark and Vik in Sogn and Fjordane].
abstract: Health insurance benefits and social welfare support has been investigated in two municipalities in Norway, Båtsfjord in the northernmost part of the country and Vik, in the county of Sogn and Fjordane in the western region. Båtsfjord is mainly a fishing community and 30% of the inhabitants aged 16-66 were receiving health insurance benefits, as compared to 8% in Vik, where the main sources of income are agriculture, industry and tourism. More than half of the insurance benefits contributions were permanent pensions. In addition 12% of the population in Båtsfjord and 1% in Vik received social welfare benefits. Most of the recipients of these benefits were younger than 35 years. The authors discuss the main reasons for these differences in public economic support among residents of the two municipalities. Factors such as level of education, conditions on the labour market and attitudes among the population and health personnel concerning public economic assistance through the health insurance system seem to be conducive to the steadily higher consumption of public welfare benefits.
authors.affiliation: Institutt for sosialmedisin, Universitetet i Oslo, Rikshospitalet.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Grünfeld
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Noreik
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007342:Insurance Benefits / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009664:Norway; D010415:Pensions / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011632:Public Assistance / Q000191:economics* / Q000639:trends; D012946:Social Welfare / Q000639:trends*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors