Ulf Gerdtham
Professor
Equity in the delivery of health care in Sweden
Författare
Summary, in English
There is mutual agreement that health care should be delivered according to need. In this article, although we employ different specifications for need, we conclude that there is inequity in the delivery of health care in Sweden. Higher income groups visit doctors more often than lower income groups in relation to need, but lower income groups remain in hospital longer once they have been admitted. These findings may be interpreted to mean that lower income groups, for various reasons, wait too long before visiting a doctor for a specific disease, the consequence being that the disease is so serious by the time the doctor is contacted that inpatient care and a longer time in hospital are necessary. The policy implication of this situation is that lower patient fees and/or higher incomes may help to reduce the inequities in health care.
Publiceringsår
1998-01-01
Språk
Engelska
Sidor
259-264
Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie
Scandinavian Journal of Public Health
Volym
26
Issue
4
Dokumenttyp
Artikel i tidskrift
Förlag
SAGE Publications
Ämne
- Economics
- Health Care Service and Management, Health Policy and Services and Health Economy
Nyckelord
- distribution
- equity
- health care
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Övrigt
- ISSN: 1403-4948