Aging & Social Change: Eleventh Interdisciplinary Conference

Abstract

This study considers factors affecting health service utilization among older Filipinos using Andersen’s Behavioral Model. Two hundred thirty-seven (237) randomly selected older people from Marikina City, Philippines were surveyed face-to-face on factors affecting health utilization, specifically age, civil status, educational level, employment, sex, health insurance coverage, household income, chronic disease status and perceived health status. Seventy-nine percent had used health services in the past year with an average of 5.7 visits per year. Being female (OR: 2.2) and having a chronic disease (OR: 3.1) were significantly associated with health utilization. But, having health insurance did not impact health service use. This may be because health care costs in the Philippines are still primarily out-of-pocket. Services covered under the Philippine national health insurance scheme need to be expanded to increase healthcare use among older Filipinos. Furthermore, targeting men in health promotion campaigns and implementing population-based chronic disease programs can help improve the reach of health services among Filipino older people.