Unemployment and Access to Health Care

Introduction. At the time of the global economies’ recovery from the effects of fourth major recession after the Second World War, there was a major in­crease in the unemployment rate that created a sig­nificant existential and public health challenge. Aim. The aim of this study was to provide a system­atic review of available research on effects of unem­ployment on access to health care, and consequen­tially on health of the population. Methods. A systematic search of relevant, peer-re­viewed electronic databases was conducted to iden­tify systematic reviews, review articles, original re­search papers and reports for the period of past ten years. Results. 10.234 results were initially identified, five of which were included in this review. Conclusion. Significant number of studies confirms that the unemployed individuals, due to sometimes limited access to health care, have impaired health in comparison to the employed population, both in physical and mental health. Global economic change will have a stronger impact on the health of the pop­ulation in poor countries, therefore a fair and compre­hensive system of health care for the unemployed is of paramount importance for the purpose of preserv­ing the health of the population