Abstract
The quality and accessibility of healthcare are primarily important because they (hopefully) contribute to better health, undoubtedly one of the most important dimensions of well-being. The organisation of healthcare and health insurance also affects well-being in other ways. When people are ill, they have to spend part of their income on healthcare expenditure which reduces their possibilities for consumption. The accessibility of good care for all also contributes to a sense of solidarity and harmony in society: people who do not receive the care they think they need often feel that they are being treated unfairly by the system. The importance of each individual’s dignity is a particularly sensitive issue when it comes to suffering, pain and death.
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Notes
- 1.
We do not include the number of consultations for dentists as it does not contain any relevant information: the average number of visits is two for all groups.
- 2.
Our figures are in line with the findings of the 2013 Health Survey, but are somewhat higher overall. This brings them closer to the official data of the National Institute for Health and Disability Insurance (RIZIV).
- 3.
A more accurate (but cumbersome) wording would be as follows: “How many people over the age of 18 live in a family that received a reimbursement through the maximum billing system in 2015”.
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Capéau, B. et al. (2020). Can People Afford Their Healthcare?. In: Well-being in Belgium. Economic Studies in Inequality, Social Exclusion and Well-Being. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58509-9_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58509-9_8
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