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Equity in specialist waiting times by socioeconomic groups: evidence from Spain

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  • Ignacio Abásolo
  • Miguel Negrín-Hernández
  • Jaime Pinilla

Abstract

In countries with publicly financed health care systems, waiting time—rather than price—is the rationing mechanism for access to health care services. The normative statement underlying such a rationing device is that patients should wait according to need and irrespective of socioeconomic status or other non-need characteristics. The aim of this paper is to test empirically that waiting times for publicly funded specialist care do not depend on patients’ socioeconomic status. Waiting times for specialist care can vary according to the type of medical specialty, type of consultation (review or diagnosis) and the region where patients’ reside. In order to take into account such variability, we use Bayesian random parameter models to explain waiting times for specialist care in terms of need and non-need variables. We find that individuals with lower education and income levels wait significantly more time than their counterparts. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Ignacio Abásolo & Miguel Negrín-Hernández & Jaime Pinilla, 2014. "Equity in specialist waiting times by socioeconomic groups: evidence from Spain," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 15(3), pages 323-334, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:eujhec:v:15:y:2014:i:3:p:323-334
    DOI: 10.1007/s10198-013-0524-x
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    Cited by:

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    2. Landi, Stefano & Ivaldi, Enrico & Testi, Angela, 2018. "Socioeconomic status and waiting times for health services: An international literature review and evidence from the Italian National Health System," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(4), pages 334-351.
    3. García-Corchero, Juan David & Jiménez-Rubio, Dolores, 2022. "How do policy levers shape the quality of a national health system?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 203-221.
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    5. Carla Blázquez Fernández & David Cantarero-Prieto & Patricio Perez, 2024. "Did the Great Recession matter for health care utilization? An approach from the working-age population in Spain," Economics and Business Letters, Oviedo University Press, vol. 13(3), pages 122-131.
    6. Ignacio Abásolo & Miguel Negrín & Jaime Pinilla, 2014. "Utilización y tiempos de espera: dos vertientes inseparables del análisis de la equidad en el acceso al sistema sanitario público," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 208(1), pages 11-38, March.
    7. Joana Cima & Paulo Guimarães & Álvaro Almeida, 2018. "Explaining the gender gap in waiting times for scheduled surgery in the Portuguese National Health Service," FEP Working Papers 607, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Equity; Waiting times; Specialist visits; Hierarchical Bayesian models; I1;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health

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