A comparison of the health status and health care utilisation patterns between foreigners and the national population in Spain: new evidence from the Spanish National Health Survey

Abstract

The reduction of inequalities in health and in the access to health services is one of the main objectives in any health care system. Various studies have analysed the existence of inequalities in health and in the use of health care for the spanish population. However, the empirical evidence for the immigran colective on this issue is as yet insufficient. This working papel ainms to provide evidence on inequalities in health and in the access to health services for the immigran population living in Spain, relative to that of the autochthonous popultaion, by using the 2003 and 2006 Spanish National Health Survey. After using a pooled ordered probit for a measure fo self-assessed health and pooled probit models for several utilisation variables, our results show that there are different patterns in health status than spaniards, although they face barriers of entry to health care services. Health policies should focus on reducing legal, cultural and administrative barriers to access health services.