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Ulf Gerdtham. Photo.

Ulf Gerdtham

Professor

Ulf Gerdtham. Photo.

Equity in the delivery of health care in Sweden

Author

  • U. G. Gerdtham
  • G. Sundberg

Summary, in English

There is mutual agreement that health care should be delivered according to need. In this article, although we employ different specifications for need, we conclude that there is inequity in the delivery of health care in Sweden. Higher income groups visit doctors more often than lower income groups in relation to need, but lower income groups remain in hospital longer once they have been admitted. These findings may be interpreted to mean that lower income groups, for various reasons, wait too long before visiting a doctor for a specific disease, the consequence being that the disease is so serious by the time the doctor is contacted that inpatient care and a longer time in hospital are necessary. The policy implication of this situation is that lower patient fees and/or higher incomes may help to reduce the inequities in health care.

Publishing year

1998-01-01

Language

English

Pages

259-264

Publication/Series

Scandinavian Journal of Public Health

Volume

26

Issue

4

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Topic

  • Economics
  • Health Care Service and Management, Health Policy and Services and Health Economy

Keywords

  • distribution
  • equity
  • health care

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1403-4948