The Demand for Health Care by the Poor under Universal Health Care Coverage

This study addresses the use of health care by the poor in a universal health care system. The results show that the poor make the least use of all health care services, with or without copayments. Differences in health care use at the upper end of the income distribution vanish when controlling for observed characteristics, while substantial differences between the poor and the nonpoor persist. The results are remarkably robust across different types of health care and poverty measures but suggest that the effect of poverty is higher for poverty measures based on permanent income and for preventive health care.