Cost-Induced Unmet Need for Health Care among Europe's Older Adults - The Role of Specific Diseases

Older adults are the most vulnerable group to suffer from health care cost burdens which may result in barriers to health care consumption. Aiming to evaluate the relationship between cost-induced unmet need and specific age-related health conditions among the European 50+ population we perform age-specific regressions using data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe. The results show that unmet need is strongly associated with emotional disorders, arthritis and heart attack across all age groups. High blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, chronic lung disease, stomach ulcers, and fractures are significant correlates for specific age groups. This highlights the importance of a health condition-specific as well as age-specific approach when reducing inequalities in access to health care. Policy makers therefore should pay more attention to financial barriers accessing health care for specific groups of the older population and consider complementary protective features for people with specific health conditions.