Abstract
Maurice Backett argues that in health services poor may actually face a triple penalty for poverty. They are poor; and partly as a result of this they have worse health and more sickness than other groups; and yet they tend to get less or worse medical care than other groups. Because poor people have greater need for health services than others, consumer detriment cannot be overcome by equalising health services for different groups irrespective of need. Rather, there must be a radical reallocation of resources away from the better-off towards poor groups and poor areas — a complete reversal of the present allocation which favours well-off people in well-off areas with low needs for care and a modification of current thinking which seeks equality of provision for rich and poor.
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© 1977 National Consumer Council
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Backett, M. (1977). Health Services. In: Williams, F. (eds) Why the Poor Pay More. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-15779-2_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-15779-2_6
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