DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH CARE UTILIZATION AMONG ELDERLY PEOPLE: INDIA'S PICTURE - AN ANALYSIS OF NSSO 71ST ROUND DATA

India is experiencing rapid change in its population structure. According to the population census of India, the proportion of the elderly population is rising. About half of the elderly population in India is of poor economic status. Even though the Indian government is investing in primary health care services, healthcare utilization among the elderly is unsatisfactory. This study uses secondary data from the NSSO 71st round to understand the factors influencing healthcare utilization among the elderly. Variables were identified from the literature and selected from the data. The data is filtered to exclude the age group below 60 years. From those who are 60 years and above those who reported any ailments during the last 15 days of the survey were selected as samples for the study. The total sample selected for the study is 2853. Health care utilization among the elderly was found to be very high in this sample i.e. out of a total of 2853 samples who reported any ailment during the last 15 days of the survey, 2780 participants i.e. 97.4 percent utilized health care. In this study, there are two factors found to be associated with healthcare utilization among the elderly population, age, and economic independence.