Open AccessHealth status indices and access to medical care.
Author(s) -
Ronald Andersen
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
american journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.284
H-Index - 264
eISSN - 1541-0048
pISSN - 0090-0036
DOI - 10.2105/ajph.68.5.458
Subject(s) - medical care , equity (law) , medicine , health care , population , rest (music) , gerontology , demography , environmental health , family medicine , economics , cardiology , sociology , political science , law , economic growth
This paper examines the uses of some health status indices in measuring equity of access to medical care. Empirical examples are provided using data from national surveys of the U.S. population conducted from 1964 through 1976. A simple indicator, mean number of physician visits, suggests that between 1963 and 1976 the poor improved their position relative to the rest of the population and, indeed, currently enjoy the highest level of access. However, a second measure, the use-disability ratio indicates that the poor may still receive less care relative to their need. A third measure, the symptoms-response ratio suggests how norms of appropriate behavior might be incorporated into an access measure.