Socioeconomic disparities in primary healthcare utilization in Eastern Indonesia

Objectives

Indonesia's eastern region is lagging in development, including the health sector, compared to other areas. The study aims to analyze socioeconomic disparities in primary healthcare utilization in eastern Indonesia.

Methods

The study analyzed raw data from the 2018 Indonesian Basic Health Survey. The poll collected 57,827 respondents using stratification and multistage random selection. Meanwhile, the research employed primary healthcare utilization as an outcome variable and socioeconomic status as an exposure variable. Moreover, the study controlled for nine variables: region, type of residence, age, gender, marital status, education level, work type, health insurance ownership, and time spent traveling to primary healthcare. In the final part of the analysis, the study employed binary logistic regression to examine the data.

Results

The results show that the poorer were 0.910 times less likely than the poorest to utilize primary healthcare (95 % CI 0.904–0.916). Individuals from a middle socioeconomic status were 0.877 times less likely than those from the poorest group to use primary healthcare (95 % CI 0.871–0.883). The richer were 0.821 times less likely than the most impoverished to utilize primary healthcare (95 % CI 0.815–0.828). The richest were 0.808 times less likely than the poorest to use primary healthcare (95 % 0.801–0.815).

Conclusions

Socioeconomic disparities existed in primary healthcare utilization in eastern Indonesia. For those living in poverty, this condition poses no financial obstacle to receiving primary healthcare services. This circumstance serves as an example of how well National Health Insurance policies, combined with Contribution Assistance for Recipients, work for low-income individuals.