GENERAL-PRACTITIONER UTILIZATION IN IRELAND - THE ROLE OF SOCIOECONOMIC-FACTORS

Substantial variation across socio-economic groups in general practiti oner utilisation patterns is observed in Ireland. This may reflect bot h the influence of socio-economic factors on health and on the demand for health care, and the fact that lower income groups are entitled to free GP care whereas the remainder of the population must pay on a fe e-per-item basis. The paper analyses the influence of economic incenti ves and socio-economic factors an GP utilisation using data obtained i n a large-scale household survey. This allows the different utilisatio n patterns of different social classes/income groups, and those with e ntitlement to free care vs the remainder of the population, to be docu mented. The importance of attempting to control for health status is s hown, and the difficulties in trying to disentangle the effects of inc entives from those of social class or income illustrated.