@article{26139f9425ae4bf3bd3817fa28844d89,
title = "Self-medication and health insurance coverage in Mexico",
abstract = "Self-medication is a common practice in many developing countries but little is known about its determinants. This study analyzes the factors that are associated with the use of self-medication in Mexico using the Mexican Health and Aging Study, a new nationally representative survey on adults aged 50 and over. We find that self-medication is related to socioeconomic status and the lack of access to professional healthcare. Our empirical results suggest that lack of government-sponsored health insurance coverage increases the propensity to self-medicate. A 10% increase in the proportion of adults with health insurance coverage could decrease the use of pharmacy consultations by .8% for public sector workers and by 1.7% for private sector workers. Increasing health insurance coverage could reduce the demand for self-medication by making healthcare more affordable and by changing the population perceptions about the benefits of modern medicine.",
keywords = "Health insurance, Mexico, Self-medication",
author = "Pag{\'a}n, {Jos{\'e} A.} and Sara Ross and Jeffrey Yau and Daniel Polsky",
note = "Funding Information: We used data from the first wave of the Mexican Health and Aging Study ( = 15,156), a nationally representative prospective panel study covering both urban and rural areas in all 31 states of Mexico and the Federal District. The sampling framework of MHAS was based on the household listings from the fourth quarter of the 2000 Encuesta Nacional de Empleo (ENE, National Employment Survey). The survey was funded by the US National Institute on Aging and fielded by the Instituto Nacional de Estad{\'i}stica, Geograf{\'i}a e Inform{\'a}tica (INEGI). MHAS was designed to be comparable to the US Health and Retirement Study (HRS). n Funding Information: Support for this study was provided by the Population Aging Research Center (PARC) of the University of Pennsylvania (National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Aging, Grant No. P30 AG12836). We also thank the support of the Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholars Program. NIH/NIA Grant No. R01 AG18016, The Mexican Health and Aging Study, Beth J. Soldo, P.I. supported the collection of the data analyzed in this paper. ",
year = "2006",
month = jan,
doi = "10.1016/j.healthpol.2005.03.007",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "75",
pages = "170--177",
journal = "Health policy",
issn = "0168-8510",
publisher = "Elsevier Ireland Ltd",
number = "2",
}