What explains the inequalities in health care utilization between immigrants and non-migrants in Switzerland?

Background: Inequalities in health care use between immigrants and non-migrants are an important issue in many countries, with potentially negative effects on population health and welfare. The aim of this study is to understand the factors that explain these inequalities in Switzerland, a country with one of the highest percentages of foreign-born population.

Methods: Using health survey data, we compare non-migrants to four immigrant groups, differentiating between first- and second-generation immigrants, and culturally different and similar immigrants. To retrieve the relative contribution of each inequality-associated factor, we apply a non-linear decomposition method and categorize the factors into demographic, socio-economic, health insurance and health status factors.

Results: We find that non-migrants are more likely to visit a doctor compared to first-generation and culturally different immigrants and are less likely to visit the emergency department. Inequalities in doctor visits are mainly attributed to the explained component, namely to socio-economic factors (such as occupation and income), while inequalities in emergency visits are mainly attributed to the unexplained component. We also find that despite the universal health care coverage in Switzerland systemic barriers might exist.

Conclusions: Our results indicate that immigrant-specific policies should be developed in order to improve access to care and efficiently manage patients in the health system.