Abstract

VERA-ROJAS, William Daniel  and  BUDOWSKI, Mónica. Dealing with Health Problems in Chile and Costa Rica: A Comparative and Qualitative Study. Rev. mex. cienc. polít. soc [online]. 2017, vol.62, n.231, pp.107-136. ISSN 0185-1918.

The study compares the way 42 middle-income households from Chile and Costa Rica deal with health problems by means of three semi-structured interviews from 2008 to 2013. It contributes to the subjective perspective of health experiences. Results show that in Chile’s segmented health-care model, economic resources and type of health problems impact on the ability to deal with health risks leading to feelings of insecurity and the risk of spillovers to other life domains. Costa Rica’s unified health-care model protects this ability independent of resources and health problem. The weakness is the diversity of the sample in relation to its size.

Keywords : middle strata; dealing with health problems; health models; Chile; Costa Rica.

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