Il processo di induzione di domanda sanitaria: un’analisi macro-sociologica presso l’asl di Varese - The match between demand and offer of sanitary services in the Italian health system is governed by a lot of factors that induce health consumer variability. Part of the health economics literature identifies an unidirectional and induced relationship between supply and demand of sanitary services, labelled offer-induced demand. This hypothesis states that an increase in the health care supplied automatically generates a health demand increase. This hypothesis will be tested by a linear regression macro-analysis using empirical data collected from the province of Varese in 2003, using the spss software. The data are analysed with a dependence methodology, analysing the dependence of demand from the various structural factors of health supply. The analysis shows no evidence of the existence of offer-induced demand on the Varese data. The only existing significant correlation links health consumption with the financial indicators; this relationship is a direct consequence of the organizational and institutional context of the Italian health system.
