The Bambuí Health and Aging Study (BHAS): private health plan and medical care utilization by older adults

The aim of this cross sectional study was to investigate whether holding a private health plan affects the consumption of medical services (hospitalization and visits to a doctor) and use of medications by older adults. All residents in Bambuí town (Minas Gerais, Brazil) aged > or = 60 years (n...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Maria Fernanda F. Lima-Costa (Author), Henrique L. Guerra (Author), Josélia O. A. Firmo (Author), Pedro G. Vidigal (Author), Elizabeth Uchoa (Author), Sandhi M. Barreto (Author)
Format: Book
Published: Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz.
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100 1 0 |a Maria Fernanda F. Lima-Costa  |e author 
700 1 0 |a Henrique L. Guerra  |e author 
700 1 0 |a Josélia O. A. Firmo  |e author 
700 1 0 |a Pedro G. Vidigal  |e author 
700 1 0 |a Elizabeth Uchoa  |e author 
700 1 0 |a Sandhi M. Barreto  |e author 
245 0 0 |a The Bambuí Health and Aging Study (BHAS): private health plan and medical care utilization by older adults 
260 |b Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. 
500 |a 0102-311X 
500 |a 1678-4464 
520 |a The aim of this cross sectional study was to investigate whether holding a private health plan affects the consumption of medical services (hospitalization and visits to a doctor) and use of medications by older adults. All residents in Bambuí town (Minas Gerais, Brazil) aged > or = 60 years (n = 1,742) were selected. From these, 92.2% were interviewed and 85.9% were examined (blood tests and physical measurements). After adjustments for counfounders, those under exclusive public coverage (n = 1,296), compared with those holding a private health plan (n = 310), presented some evidence of having worse health status, reported less visits to a doctor, and used a small number of prescribed medications. The main explanation for the aged holding a private health plan was economic, not health. Even though those who had only public health coverage complained more in relation to medical care (70.9%), an important proportion of the aged with a private health care plan presented some kind of complaint (45.2%). Another worrying factor was the difficulty to acquire medication because of financial problems (47.2 and 25.2% reported, respectively). Further investigations are needed to verify whether our results can be generalized to other communities of the country. 
546 |a EN 
546 |a ES 
546 |a PT 
690 |a aged 
690 |a drugs 
690 |a health services 
690 |a Medicine 
690 |a R 
690 |a Public aspects of medicine 
690 |a RA1-1270 
655 7 |a article  |2 local 
786 0 |n Cadernos de Saúde Pública, Vol 18, Iss 1, Pp 177-186 
787 0 |n http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0102-311X2002000100018&lng=en&tlng=en 
787 0 |n https://doaj.org/toc/0102-311X 
787 0 |n https://doaj.org/toc/1678-4464 
856 4 1 |u https://doaj.org/article/ad77832362d1416f89a28dba473ff37a  |z Connect to this object online.