General Access to Medical Consultation in Colombia, 1997-2012

Abstract

This paper studies the determinants of access to health care services in Colombia with data from the 2012 National Quality of Life Survey, jointly considering characteristics of supply and demand. I find that access to medical services decreased in Colombia between 1997 and 2012. This performance was uneven within regions: Antioquia and the Oriental region show an increase in the indicator, while the Caribbean, Central, Bogotá, San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina, Orinoco and Amazon regions reported decreases. Probit models show that demand characteristics explain more the probability of access than characte- ristics of supply. Finally, significant regional differences in access were observed in 2012.