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Equality of opportunity in health care: access and equal access revisited

Author

Listed:
  • Antonio Abatemarco

    (University of Salerno and CELPE)

  • Sergio Beraldo

    (University of Napoli and CSEF)

  • Francesca Stroffolini

    (University of Napoli)

Abstract

We offer a framework for identifying disparities in the distribution of healthcare opportunities. In line with the Rawlsian tradition of fair equality of opportunity, we argue that these have to be primarily defined in terms of access to a (bundle of) health services of appropriate quality. Our approach allows to disentangle the opportunities individuals enjoy—assessed by jointly considering chances of access and disparities in access conditions—from the mere utilization of health services while preserving normative consistency with the principle of equal (access to) health care for those in equal need of health care. A simple exercise based on real data shows that the definition we provide can be easily applied to gather policy-relevant insights.

Suggested Citation

  • Antonio Abatemarco & Sergio Beraldo & Francesca Stroffolini, 2020. "Equality of opportunity in health care: access and equal access revisited," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 67(1), pages 13-29, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:inrvec:v:67:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1007_s12232-019-00342-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s12232-019-00342-9
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Paolo Li Donni & Vito Peragine & Giuseppe Pignataro, 2014. "Ex‐Ante And Ex‐Post Measurement Of Equality Of Opportunity In Health: A Normative Decomposition," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(2), pages 182-198, February.
    2. Lefranc, Arnaud & Pistolesi, Nicolas & Trannoy, Alain, 2009. "Equality of opportunity and luck: Definitions and testable conditions, with an application to income in France," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(11-12), pages 1189-1207, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Antonio Abatemarco & Massimo Aria & Sergio Beraldo & Francesca Stroffolini, 2020. "Measuring Disparities in Access to Health Care: A Proposal Based on an Ex-ante Perspective," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 150(2), pages 549-568, July.
    2. Abatemarco, Antonio & Aria, Massimo & Beraldo, Sergio & Collaro, Michela, 2024. "Measuring health care access and its inequality: A decomposition approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    3. Abatemarco, Antonio & Aria, Massimo & Beraldo, Sergio & Collaro, Michela, 2023. "Measuring Access and Inequality of Access to Health Care: a Policy-oriented Decomposition," CELPE Discussion Papers 164, CELPE - CEnter for Labor and Political Economics, University of Salerno, Italy.
    4. Sergio Beraldo & Luigino Bruni, 2020. "Special Issue: Happiness, Capabilities, and Opportunities," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 67(1), pages 1-3, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Health care; Equality of opportunity; Access costs;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

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