Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T19:56:21.811Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Health Care Spending, Family Structure and Family Health

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

Garry F. Barrett  and
Robert Conlon
Robert Conlon
Affiliation:
School of Economics, University of New South Wales
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

We use data from the ABS National Health Surveys for 1989/95 and 1995 to examine differences in health care expenditures and health outcomes by family structure. We find that, on average, female single parents tend to experience poorer health outcomes, and exhibit more ‘risky’ health behaviours (particularly smoking), compared to adults in ‘two-parent’ families. Children in female single parent families tend to have more chronic health conditions than children in two-parent families. We also find that single parent families tend to spend a lower proportion of their income on health care, while receiving fewer indirect health care resources through government. Policies that may help reduce the economic and health disadvantages facing single parent families are considered.

Type
Current Issues
Information
The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , June 2003 , pp. 143 - 152
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2003

References

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) (1990) National Health Survey Users’ guide, Australia, 1989–90, Catalogue no. 4363.0, Canberra.Google Scholar
ABS (1996) National Health Survey Users’ Guide, Australia, 1995, Cat. No. 4363.0, Canberra.Google Scholar
ABS (2001a) Government Benefits, Taxes and Household Income, 1998–99, Cat. No. 6537.0, Canberra.Google Scholar
ABS (2001b) Household Expenditure Survey, 1998–99, Cat. No. 6530.0, Canberra.Google Scholar
ABS (2002) Yearbook Australia, 2001, Cat. No. 1301.0, Canberra.Google Scholar
AIHW (2002) Health Expenditure Australia, 2000–01, Cat. No. HWE 20, Canberra.Google Scholar
Butler, J.R.G. (2002) ‘Policy Change and Private Health Insurance: Did the Cheapest Policy do the Trick? Conference on Regulating Private Health Insurance, Canberra: ANU, June.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barrett, G.F. (2002) ‘The dynamics of participation in the Sole Parent Pension’, Economic Record, 78 (204), 1–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, J.P. (1999) ‘Healthy bodies and thick wallets: The dual relation between health and economic status’, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Spring, pp. 145–166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar