Measurement of inequity in health care with heterogeneous response of use to need

Ellen Van de Poel (), Eddy Van Doorslaer and O’Donnell, Owen
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Owen O'Donnell

Journal of Health Economics, 2012, vol. 31, issue 4, 676-689

Abstract: We propose a method of measuring and decomposing inequity in health care utilisation that allows for heterogeneity in the use–need relationship. This makes explicit inequity that derives from unequal treatment response to variation in need, as well as that due to differential effects of non-need determinants. Under plausible conditions concerning heterogeneity in the use–need relationship and the distribution of need, existing methods that impose homogeneity will underestimate pro-rich inequity. This prediction is confirmed for four middle-income Asian countries. In those countries, around one half of the observed socioeconomic inequality is due to utilisation being more responsive to need among the higher wealth and urban dwelling individuals.

Keywords: Health care; Equity; Decomposition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D63 I14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (21)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167629612000598
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jhecon:v:31:y:2012:i:4:p:676-689

DOI: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2012.05.005

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Health Economics is currently edited by J. P. Newhouse, A. J. Culyer, R. Frank, K. Claxton and T. McGuire

More articles in Journal of Health Economics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().