Equidad en el acceso a servicios de salud en Antioquia, Colombia

Abstract

Objective: Analysing equity in access to health care in Antioquia, Colombia. Methods Poorer and richer groups' access to health-care was evaluated, as was that of people with insurance and those without it. A Logit model was estimated for analysing the main determinants of access to curative and preventative health-care services; explanatory variables were socioeconomic status, education level, self-reported health status, age, gender, urban/rural location and social security affiliation. Results: There was no difference in health-care service access amongst people affiliated to contribution-based and subsidised regimes. However, financial constraints represented important obstacles for subsidised regime members and those having no affiliation. Contribution-based regime members had greater resources for continuing to receive attention. There was positive bias in using preventative services thereby favouring people having higher socioeconomic status. Conclusions: Educational level, age and being affiliated to social security were the main factors explaining health-care service access. Gender, self-reported health status and geographical location were additional factors explaining preventative health-service access.