Health Care Utilization Paper

There are many factors which influence healthcare utilization, these includes socio-economic status, policies and beliefs of a nation. The Socio-Economic Status (SES) of a given community is a complex measure which is centered on factors which include demographic characteristics, education and income (Kronenfeld, 2011). SES has very important influence on healthcare utilization behavior, simply because of the effects that it has on aspects such as need, response to symptoms and recognition. The policies of a government can either have direct and indirect effect on the utilization of healthcare. This is so because, when a country decides to increase usage of healthcare through the population, it can only do so through creating policies.

Socio-economic status has very many both positive and negative effects on the access of healthcare. This depends on the living standards of the people in a given country, that is, if the living standards are very poor in the country, then it means the access of healthcare becomes very difficult. On the other hand, if the education in a country is good, then it means that access to healthcare will also be good (Sun, 2015). This is so because, the country will be able to produce medical practitioners, who will cater for medical care, thus reducing the cost of healthcare. Government policies can really help in improving the access of healthcare, since policies such as free healthcare to all, help in improving the access of healthcare in the country.

Lack of or delayed healthcare can really affect individual’s life negatively, this is because, a person may die due to poor or lack of healthcare, when the situation can be controlled (Yan et al 2016). Moreover, an individual’s condition may worsen due to delayed medical attention, thus making the person to contract a terminal disease. Thus healthcare should never be delayed since it can really affect an individual’s life negatively (Kronenfeld, 2011).

Reference

Kronenfeld, J. J. (2011). Access To Care and Factors That Impact Access, Patients As Partners In Care and Changing Roles of Health Providers. Bingley, U.K.: Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Yan-Ning, L., Dong-xiao, N., Bo, W., Qi-Ming, F., & Hong-ye, L. (2016). The impact of predisposing, enabling, and need factors in utilization of health services among rural residents in Guangxi, China. BMC Health Services Research, 161-9. doi:10.1186/s12913-016-1825-4

Sun, L., Lee, E., Zahra, A., & Park, J. (2015). Original Research: Should non-citizens have access to publicly funded health care? A study of public attitudes and their affecting factors. Public Health, 1291157-1165. doi:10.1016/j.puhe.2015.07.033