Fig. 1From: Equity in the utilization of physician and inpatient hospital services: evidence from Korean health panel surveyConceptual framework for this study. The enabling and need factors are mediating variables that help to explain differences between subgroups that might be due to either equitable (need) or inequitable (enabling) factors. Age and sex serve as proxies for need because of the well-established relationships between illness patterns and age and sex. Other predisposing variables are, however, inequitable factorsBack to article page