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Health Care Utilization and Expenditures in Persons Receiving Social Assistance in 2012: Evidence From Switzerland

INTRODUCTION: Lower socioeconomic position and measures of social and material deprivation are associated with morbidity and mortality. These inequalities in health among groups of various statuses remain one of the main challenges for public health. The aim of the study was to investigate differenc...

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Autores principales: Reich, Oliver, Wolffers, Felix, Signorell, Andri, Blozik, Eva
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Canadian Center of Science and Education 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4802151/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25946912
http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/gjhs.v7n4p1
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author Reich, Oliver
Wolffers, Felix
Signorell, Andri
Blozik, Eva
author_facet Reich, Oliver
Wolffers, Felix
Signorell, Andri
Blozik, Eva
author_sort Reich, Oliver
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: Lower socioeconomic position and measures of social and material deprivation are associated with morbidity and mortality. These inequalities in health among groups of various statuses remain one of the main challenges for public health. The aim of the study was to investigate differences in health care use and costs between recipients of social assistance and non-recipients aged 65 years and younger within the Swiss healthcare system. METHODS: We analyzed claims data of 13 492 individuals living in Bern, Switzerland of which 391 received social assistance. For the year 2012, we compared the number of physician visits, hospitalizations, prescribed drugs, and total health care costs as covered by mandatory health insurance. Linear and logistic adjusted regression analyses were made to estimate the effect of receipt of social assistance on health service use and costs. RESULTS: Multivariate linear regression analysis revealed that health care costs increased on average by 1 666 CHF if individuals received social assistance. Recipients of social assistance had on average 1.2 more ambulatory consultations than non-recipients and got 1.65 more different medications prescribed as compared to non-recipients. The chance for recipients of social assistance to be hospitalized was almost twice that of non-recipients (Odds Ratio 1.96, 95% confidence interval 1.49-2.59). CONCLUSIONS: Recipients of social assistance demonstrate an exceedingly high use of health services. The need for interventions to alleviate the identified inequalities in health and health care needs is obvious.
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spelling pubmed-48021512016-04-21 Health Care Utilization and Expenditures in Persons Receiving Social Assistance in 2012: Evidence From Switzerland Reich, Oliver Wolffers, Felix Signorell, Andri Blozik, Eva Glob J Health Sci Articles INTRODUCTION: Lower socioeconomic position and measures of social and material deprivation are associated with morbidity and mortality. These inequalities in health among groups of various statuses remain one of the main challenges for public health. The aim of the study was to investigate differences in health care use and costs between recipients of social assistance and non-recipients aged 65 years and younger within the Swiss healthcare system. METHODS: We analyzed claims data of 13 492 individuals living in Bern, Switzerland of which 391 received social assistance. For the year 2012, we compared the number of physician visits, hospitalizations, prescribed drugs, and total health care costs as covered by mandatory health insurance. Linear and logistic adjusted regression analyses were made to estimate the effect of receipt of social assistance on health service use and costs. RESULTS: Multivariate linear regression analysis revealed that health care costs increased on average by 1 666 CHF if individuals received social assistance. Recipients of social assistance had on average 1.2 more ambulatory consultations than non-recipients and got 1.65 more different medications prescribed as compared to non-recipients. The chance for recipients of social assistance to be hospitalized was almost twice that of non-recipients (Odds Ratio 1.96, 95% confidence interval 1.49-2.59). CONCLUSIONS: Recipients of social assistance demonstrate an exceedingly high use of health services. The need for interventions to alleviate the identified inequalities in health and health care needs is obvious. Canadian Center of Science and Education 2015-07 2014-12-16 /pmc/articles/PMC4802151/ /pubmed/25946912 http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/gjhs.v7n4p1 Text en Copyright: © Canadian Center of Science and Education http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
spellingShingle Articles
Reich, Oliver
Wolffers, Felix
Signorell, Andri
Blozik, Eva
Health Care Utilization and Expenditures in Persons Receiving Social Assistance in 2012: Evidence From Switzerland
title Health Care Utilization and Expenditures in Persons Receiving Social Assistance in 2012: Evidence From Switzerland
title_full Health Care Utilization and Expenditures in Persons Receiving Social Assistance in 2012: Evidence From Switzerland
title_fullStr Health Care Utilization and Expenditures in Persons Receiving Social Assistance in 2012: Evidence From Switzerland
title_full_unstemmed Health Care Utilization and Expenditures in Persons Receiving Social Assistance in 2012: Evidence From Switzerland
title_short Health Care Utilization and Expenditures in Persons Receiving Social Assistance in 2012: Evidence From Switzerland
title_sort health care utilization and expenditures in persons receiving social assistance in 2012: evidence from switzerland
topic Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4802151/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25946912
http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/gjhs.v7n4p1
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