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Cross-country survey identifies cost-related barriers to health services for persons with disabilities, suggesting significant gaps in access.
Across Europe, formal commitments to universal health coverage coexist with persistent gaps in effective access for persons with disabilities. Disabled people are more than twice as likely as others to report unmet medical needs, frequently due to affordability, distance and service unavailability.The attached cross‑country survey of OPD aimed to document cost‑related unmet needs for health and social care, identify the most affected services and population subgroups, and explore reasons for recourse to private care. This report addresses three research questions:1. To what extent do respondents report cost‑related unmet needs across key health and social care domains?2. Which population groups with disabilities are perceived as most affected by cost‑related barriers?3. What are the main sources of out‑of‑pocket payments and the key drivers of seeking private care, and how do these patterns compare with European evidence on unmet needs and financial protection?
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Murauskienė et al. (2026) studied this question.
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