Financial barriers to primary health care in Aotearoa New Zealand.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In Aotearoa New Zealand, co-payments to see a general practitioner (GP, family doctor) or collect a prescription are payable by virtually all adults.

Objective

To examine the extent to which these user co-payments are a barrier to accessing health care, focussing on inequities for indigenous Māori.

Methods

Pooled data from sequential waves (years) of the New Zealand Health Survey, 2011/12 to 2018/19 were analysed. Outcomes were self-reported cost barriers to seeing a GP or collecting a prescription in the previous year. Logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) of barriers to care for Māori compared with non-Māori, sequentially adjusting for additional explanatory variables.

Results

Pooled data included 107,231 people, 22,292 (21%) w

SUBMITTER: Jeffreys M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11636556 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature