[The impact of subsidized healthcare insurance on access to cervical cytology in Medellin, Colombia].

Objective: Assessing the impact of subsidized healthcare insurance on access to cervical cytology in Medellin, Colombia.

Materials And Methods: Propensity score matching (PSM) was used with 2008 Life Quality Survey in Colombia figures to obtain a control group comparable to a treatment group. This involved using stratification estimates, the k-nearest-neighbor algorithm and kernel density for calculating impact size

Results: Access to cytology for 19 to 49 year-old women having subsidized healthcare insurance were 2.2 % to 2.9 % lower compared to women who did not have any healthcare insurance. Estimates were not statistically significant for women over 50 years-old.

Discussion: Women lacking healthcare insurance having increased access to cytology could be explained by charities or social programs aiding the population lacking healthcare insurance.