Luigi Boggian

IRSS, UCLouvain

will give a presentation on

Forgone care and horizontal inequity in healthcare use in fifteen European countries: differences between immigrants and natives

Abstract:

This paper assesses disparities in self-reported unmet needs for care in doctor visits and dental care within native and immigrant groups in 15 European countries. Self-reported unmet needs for care refer to the fact that despite identified healthcare needs individuals forego healthcare utilisation for a variety of reasons. We define the immigrant status according to three dimensions: being born abroad, not having the citizenship, being a second-generation immigrant, and the country of origin to identify European and Non-European immigrants or non-citizens. Using a set of non-linear regression models, we explore a number of channels to explain disparities in foregone care between immigrants and natives. Our results show that (i) both first- and second- generation immigrants are more likely to forego care even after controlling for health needs and socioeconomic factors, the effect being mainly driven by immigrants of non-European origin, (ii) the lack of citizenship however leads to a lower access to doctor visits and dental care (iii) only second-generation immigrants with Non-European origins have a slightly higher intensity of doctor visits, (iv) there are country-specific horizontal inequities in foregone care disfavouring immigrants, (v) we rule out language barriers, social trust, religiosity and disparities in health shocks as potential channels explaining disparities in foregone care between immigrants and natives and find that satisfaction with basic health insurance partially explain observed disparities.

Co-authored with Sandy Tubeuf