Equity in health care utilization: further tests based on hurdle models and Swedish micro data.
This paper tests the null hypothesis of no horizontal inequity in delivery of health care by use of count data hurdle models and Swedish micro data. It differs from most earlier work in three principal ways: First, the tests are carried out separately for physician and hospital care; second, the tests are carried out separately for the probability of seeking care and the amount of care received (given any use); and third, the tests are based on a model that includes several socioeconomic variables, e.g. income, education and size of community of residence. The paper rejects the hypothesis of no inequity because socioeconomic factors also have significant effects on utilization, e.g. income and size of community of residence. Size of community of residence has a positive significant effect on the frequency of physician visits but not on the probability of visiting a physician.
Gerdtham
U G
UG
Centre for Health Economics, Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden. heug@hhs.se
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D016208:Databases, Factual; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006304:Health Status; D006761:Hospitals / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008875:Middle Aged; D017059:Models, Econometric; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009819:Office Visits / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016012:Poisson Distribution; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012494:Sampling Studies; D012923:Social Class; D012935:Social Justice; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013222:State Medicine / Q000592:standards*; D013548:Sweden; D014504:Urban Health