Use of and spending in health services by individuals in Argentina in 2005. International comparisons of socio-economic differentials in health

https://doi.org/10.18294/sc.2008.316

Published 3 April 2008 Open Access


Contador Público Nacional, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Doctor en Sociología, Universidad Estatal de Michigan. Director del Centro de Estudios de Opinión Pública, Instituto Gino Germani, Universidad de Buenos Aires. Investigador del CONICET. , Licenciada en Sociología, Universidad de Buenos Aires. Coordinadora del área de Análisis y Difusión, Dirección de Estadística e Información de Salud (DEIS), Ministerio de Salud de la Nación (MSN). , Licenciada en Sociología, Universidad de Buenos Aires. Directora de la Dirección de Estadística e Información de Salud (DEIS), Ministerio de Salud de la Nación (MSN).



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Keywords:

Health Care (Public Health), Health Inequalities, Health Expenditures, Financing, Health, Public Policies

Abstract


This paper, a follow-up to a previous national survey (2003), intends to update the health care services use and expenditure patterns by exploring, as in the past, the social bases for such behaviors. The survey included public policy interest in this regard. The results analyzed, from a national population sample of 1.546 persons aged 0 and older, show that -as expected- health expenditure is significant within total household expenditure and that out-of-pocket-expenses in medication are a very important proportion (40%) of this health expenditure. As a fundamental part of this article, there is a special section on health inequality aspects. The possibility of comparing local results using Japan as a parameter is of unquestionable interest to evaluate socioeconomic differentials in this field. The basic method is similar in both studies, relying on logistic regression equations.


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