Saying that, the question is why the oldest old use fewer health communitybased
out-patient services but more in-patient health services compared to
their younger peers in Israel. Some of the reasons may be difficulties in
availability, affordability, and/or accessibility of health care services among
different age-groups of elderly people. However, this issue has been insufficiently
explored and merits more research. Therefore, the aims of this
study are to examine the extent to which specialist services are available,
affordable, and accessible to various age-groups of elderly people and the
factors that best explain availability, affordability, and accessibility to specialists
among elderly people.