Income-Based Disparities in Health Care Utilization under Universal Coverage in Brazil / Guido Cataife, Charles J. Courtemanche.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cataife, Guido.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Courtemanche, Charles J.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w17069.

NBER working paper series no. w17069

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2011.

Summary:

Since Brazil's adoption of universal health care in 1988, the country's health care system has consisted of a mix of private providers and free public providers. We test whether income-based disparities in medical visits and medications remain in Brazil despite universal coverage using a nationally representative sample of over 48,000 households. Additional income is associated with less public sector utilization and more private sector utilization, both using simple correlations and regressions controlling for household characteristics and local area fixed effects. Importantly, the increase in private care use is greater than the drop in public care use. Also, income and unmet medical needs are negatively associated. These results suggest that access limitations remain for low-income households despite the availability of free public care.

Notes:

Print version record

May 2011.