Models of Health Quiz

See Inequalities in Health. Option B is correct. The Inverse Care Law was described by Julian Tudor Hart in a classic 1971 Lancet paper: the availability of good medical care tends to vary inversely with the need for it in the population served. In plain words, the people who are most in need of care, such as those in deprived areas with higher death rates from heart and respiratory disease and lung cancer, often have the least access to good care, while people with the least need use health services more. This widens existing health inequalities, which are avoidable differences in health between groups. For example, a 2019 King’s Fund report found that men in the least deprived 10% of areas in England could expect to live almost a decade longer than men in the most deprived 10%. Services tend to be better resourced and easier to use in more affluent areas. The law applies to the way services are distributed, and it says nothing about the underlying biology. The word inverse means opposite: as need goes up, the availability of care goes down.

• Inverse Care Law: Good medical care tends to vary inversely with the need for it in the population served.
• Source: Described by Julian Tudor Hart in a 1971 Lancet paper.
• Effect: The people with the greatest need, such as those in deprived areas, often have the least access to good care, which widens health inequalities.