Socioeconomic inequalities in waiting times for planned and cancer surgery: Evidence from Spain
Por:
Bosque-Mercader L., Carrilero N., García-Altés A., López-Casasnovas G., Siciliani L.
Publicada:
1 may 2023
Ahead of Print:
1 ene 2023
Resumen:
Waiting times act as a non-price rationing mechanism to bring together the demand for and the supply of public healthcare services and ensure equal access independently of ability to pay. This study tests for the presence of socioeconomic inequalities in waiting times for ten publicly-funded planned and cancer surgeries in Catalonia (Spain) in 2015–2019. Socioeconomic status (SES), measured by four categories (very low, low, middle, high), is based on co-payment levels for medicines which depend on patient's income. Using administrative data, we estimate the association between SES and waiting times controlling for patient characteristics and hospital fixed effects. Compared to patients with low SES, patients with middle SES wait 2–6 fewer days for hip replacement, cataract surgery, and hysterectomy, and less than a day for breast cancer surgery. These inequalities arise within hospitals and are not explained by patient nor hospital characteristics. For some surgeries, the results also show that patients with higher SES are more likely to voluntarily exit the waiting list and have a lower probability of having a surgery canceled for medical reasons and dying while waiting. © 2023 The Authors. Health Economics published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Filiaciones:
Bosque-Mercader L.:
Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, Centre for Health Service Economics and Organisation, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
Department of Economics and Related Studies, University of York, York, United Kingdom
Carrilero N.:
Agència de Qualitat i Avaluació Sanitàries de Catalunya (AQuAS), Barcelona, Spain
García-Altés A.:
Agència de Qualitat i Avaluació Sanitàries de Catalunya (AQuAS), Barcelona, Spain
CIBER de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Barcelona, Spain
Institut d’Investigació Biomèdica (IIB Sant Pau), Barcelona, Spain
López-Casasnovas G.:
CRES, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
Siciliani L.:
Department of Economics and Related Studies, University of York, York, United Kingdom
hybrid, Green Accepted, All Open Access; Hybrid Gold
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