Determinants and associated costs of unmet healthcare need and their association with resource allocation. Insights from Finland
Year: 2025
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: The Finnish counties' allocation formulae for welfare services are based on utilisation collected from national registers and do not account for unmet needs. We investigated factors associated with self-reported unmet healthcare need and associated costs of primary and total healthcare, as well as the association between regional variation in unmet needs and utilisation-based need. The 2017-2018 FinSote survey data were matched with 2017 register data (n = 13,800). Costs of healthcare visits were used as a proxy for utilisation. We applied three logit regressions to explore factors related to self-reported unmet need and eight two-part models to analyse cost data. Analysis weights were developed and used. Those reporting unmet need were female, unemployed and foreign-born, and had multiple morbidities and poor self-assessed health. The highest income quintile and good self-rated quality of life were negatively associated with self-reported unmet need. A person with unmet needs spent an additional €32.2-183.9 and €269.7-963.7 yearly on primary and total healthcare, respectively. Regional differences in self-reported unmet need were not fully correlated with the need indices used in the regional resource allocation. To account for unmet need in budget allocations, self-reported unmet need and quality of life data should be collected more extensively and routinely. Addressing unmet need should be viewed as a long-term investment in primary care to reduce avoidable health inequalities.
Source: Health Policy
Authors: Lien Nguyen, Unto Häkkinen
Institution: Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare
Language: English
Subfield: Finance
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $4,220
OpenAlex ID: W4407624313