When is Access to Health Care Equal? Some Public Policy Issues

Abstract

The issues of equality of access to health care has two related questions - access whom and access to what? They seem to have a simple answer: there should be access to health care services for anyone in need of it. Specially, it means that, non-medical features of individuals (such as their community, sex, geographical location, or ability to pay) should not determinate their access to health care. While public policy in the past has tended to remove some of the important barriers in access to health care, it has had to face more acutely the question, access to what.