Abstract

RODRIGUEZ, Marisol  and  STOYANOVA, Alexandrina. The influence of the type of insurance access on health and ef education on health services utilization patterns. Gac Sanit [online]. 2004, vol.18, n.4, pp.102-111. ISSN 0213-9111.

This study analyses the utilisation of health services by gender, type of insurance access and the level of education. Descriptive and logisitic regression analysis of the National Health Interview Survey, 1997, confirms that women go more often to the doctor than men. Differences are greater in the case of general practitioners (versus specialists) and public doctors (versus private). However, there are hardly any differences in hospitalisations and emergency visits. Having private access has no impact on hospitalisations, emergency visits or the probability of a visit (except for women), but it increases the probability of visits to specialists (mainly among women) and to private doctors (especially among men), confirming the existence of gender differences in the impact of this variable. In fact, the utilisation patterns by men and women with only public access resemble each other more than those of men and women with only private or dual coverage. Education is to a certain extent inversely related to the probability of a medical visit, visits to a GP and hospitalisations, but directly related to the utilisation of specialists and private doctors. Here, there are also gender disparities: differences in utilisation by educational level are more prominent among men.

Keywords : Utilisation; Gender; Insurance; Dual coverage; Private access; Education; Spain.