Desigualdade socioeconomica no acesso aos servicos de saude no Brasil: um estudo comparativo entre as regi?es brasileiras em 1998 e 2008

• Published in: Economia aplicada Vol. 17; no. 4; p. 623
• Main Authors: Mônica Viegas Andrade, Kenya Valéria Micaela de Souza Noronha, de Miranda Menezes, Renata, Michelle Nepomuceno Souza, de Barros Reis, Carla, Diego Resende Martins, Gomes, Lucas
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Portuguese
• Published: Riberao Preto Faculdade de Economia, Administração e Contabilidade de Ribeirão Preto-USP, Dept de Economia 01-10-2013
• Subjects: Economic models; Economic statistics; Economic theory; Health care access; Inequality; Public health; Socioeconomic factors; Studies; Brazil
• ISSN: 1413-8050; 1980-5530
• DOI: 10.1590/S1413-80502013000400005

This paper measures inequalities in healthcare access in Brazil and each region in 1998 and 2008. The analysis controls for predisposing, enabling and need factors. The results show an increase of utilization rates and reduction of inequalities in primary care, especially among uninsured individuals, which suggest an improvement in the public health sector. The exception is the utilization of dentistry visits that still presents high social inequality and higher utilization rates among insured individuals. Regarding the variable "difficulty of access" results showed pro-rich inequality. After controlling for health insurance coverage, this inequality decreases in a great amount.