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Equity in Swedish health care reconsidered: new results based on the finite mixture model
Author(s) -
Gerdtham UlfG.,
Trivedi Pravin K.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
health economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.55
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1099-1050
pISSN - 1057-9230
DOI - 10.1002/hec.634
Subject(s) - equity (law) , health care , perspective (graphical) , health equity , econometrics , public economics , economics , actuarial science , computer science , political science , economic growth , artificial intelligence , law
This paper reconsiders the equity issue in Swedish health care utilization previously analysed by Gerdtham ( Health Econ 1997; 6 : 303–319) within the framework of the standard two‐part model. Departing from the user/non‐user distinction, we use the more flexible framework of the finite mixture model that distinguishes between frequent/infrequent users. Our results indicate that the support for the inequity hypothesis reported by Gerdtham is sensitive to model specification and the way standard errors of coefficients are estimated. The new framework offers an alternative perspective on the magnitude of the income‐related difference in health care utilization. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.