Equity in the delivery of health care in Sweden
Gerdtham, U. G. LU
and Sundberg, G.
(1998)
In Scandinavian Journal of Public Health
26(4).
p.259-264
- Abstract
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... (More)
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.
(Less)
- author
- Gerdtham, U. G.
LU
and Sundberg, G.
- publishing date
- 1998-01-01
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- distribution, equity, health care
- in
- Scandinavian Journal of Public Health
- volume
- 26
- issue
- 4
- pages
- 6 pages
- publisher
- SAGE Publications
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:9868749
- scopus:21544475509
- ISSN
- 1403-4948
- DOI
- 10.1177/14034948980260040501
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- id
- 1e97394d-97f6-462d-8d08-ec86d2c5fda9
- date added to LUP
- 2018-10-09 12:29:54
- date last changed
- 2024-01-15 03:30:14
@article{1e97394d-97f6-462d-8d08-ec86d2c5fda9,
abstract = {{<p>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.</p>}},
author = {{Gerdtham, U. G. and Sundberg, G.}},
issn = {{1403-4948}},
keywords = {{distribution; equity; health care}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{01}},
number = {{4}},
pages = {{259--264}},
publisher = {{SAGE Publications}},
series = {{Scandinavian Journal of Public Health}},
title = {{Equity in the delivery of health care in Sweden}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/14034948980260040501}},
doi = {{10.1177/14034948980260040501}},
volume = {{26}},
year = {{1998}},
}