STAKES: Income Affects Health Care Quality

In an as-yet unpublished report, STAKES reveals that several hundred lower-income people die every year because they didn't receive the best possible care.

The difference between the haves and have-nots revolves around whether they use public or private health care.

People with steady jobs frequently have access to free private health care from their employers. When they are ill, they have easy access to a doctor, get quick referrals and treatment, and usually don't pay a cent.

For the unemployed, or those without permanent jobs, they rely on public health care centres, notorious for long waiting lines and the fact that referrals are written less frequently. Waiting lines for procedures and operations are also much longer.

Diseases like asthma, diabetes, and pulmonary emphysema are more likely to kill poor people than those better-off financially.

Alarmingly, the STAKES report shows that this inequality affects children as well, since they are likely to get the same kind of care as their parents.

YLE's investigative programme Akuutti revealed STAKES' data, and pointed out that the topic of health care equality has largely been avoided in recent years.