Socioeconomic Status and Access to Healthcare: Interrelated Drivers for Healthy Aging

The rapid growth of the global aging population has raised attention to the health and healthcare needs of older adults. The purpose of this mini-review is to: (1) elucidate the complex factors affecting the relationship between chronological age, socio-economic status (SES), access to care, and hea...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inFrontiers in public health Vol. 8; p. 231
Main Authors McMaughan, Darcy Jones, Oloruntoba, Oluyomi, Smith, Matthew Lee
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 18.06.2020
Subjects
access to care
Aged
Cross-Sectional Studies
Health Care Reform
Health Services Accessibility
healthcare access
Healthy Aging
Humans
older adults
Public Health
Quality of Life
Social Class
socioeconomic status
older adults
access to care
healthy aging
socioeconomic status
healthcare access
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:The rapid growth of the global aging population has raised attention to the health and healthcare needs of older adults. The purpose of this mini-review is to: (1) elucidate the complex factors affecting the relationship between chronological age, socio-economic status (SES), access to care, and healthy aging using a SES-focused framework; (2) present examples of interventions from across the globe; and (3) offer recommendations for research-guided action to remediate the trend of older age being associated with lower SES, lack of access to care, and poorer health outcomes. Evidence supports a relationship between SES and healthcare access as well as healthcare access and health outcomes for older adults. Because financial resources are proportional to health status, efforts are needed to support older adults and the burdened healthcare system with financial resources. This can be most effective with grassroots approaches and interventions to improve SES among older adults and through data-driven policy and systems change.
Bibliography:Edited by: Colette Joy Browning, Federation University, Australia
Reviewed by: Shane Andrew Thomas, Australian National University, Australia; Cathy H. Gong, Australian National University, Australia
This article was submitted to Public Health Education and Promotion, a section of the journal Frontiers in Public Health
ISSN:2296-2565
2296-2565
DOI:10.3389/fpubh.2020.00231