Ancillary and specialist health services: the relationship between income, user rates and equity of access

Australia's public health system currently provides substantial funding to, amongst its other objectives, ensure access to hospital, medical and pharmaceutical services by all families irrespective of income (McClelland, 1991, p. 6). However most ancillary services are not similarly subsidised and there is some evidence that income presents a barrier to the use of these services. There is also evidence that low income might also reduce access to specialist medical practitioner services which, while funded through Medicare, are less likely to be bulk billed than general practitioner services, and which therefore attract higher out-of pocket costs. In this study, the 1989-90 National Health Survey is used to examine whether there are indicators that low income reduces access to a range of ancillary services such as physiotherapy, optician services, chiropractic and dental services and to specialist medical practitioner services.