Healthcare access as an important element for the EU's socioeconomic development: Greece's residents' opinions during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a severe impact on global socio-economic development and healthcare access. Considering the link between the two, the objective of this study was to investigate to what extent Greece's residents consider that access to healthcare is an important element for the European's Union (EU) socioeconomic development. The study used data from the Eurobarometer 94.2. Interviews were conducted online. Respondents were recruited by telephone via a dual-frame random digit dialing (RDD) sample design. The sample was supplemented with a non-probabilistic sample randomly drawn from Kantar's LifePoints panel. The sample size was n = 1002. A logistic model was fitted using the respondents' opinions regarding the direction the EU is heading in as a dependent variable. As potential predictors, we used respondents' opinions regarding the importance of access to healthcare for the EU's socioeconomic development, the extent to which more (or less) decision-making should take place at the European level for dealing with health issues, the index of political interest and several sociodemographic characteristics. According to the analysis, those that mentioned healthcare access as an important element for the EU's socioeconomic development were more likely to consider that the EU is heading in the wrong direction. The results of this study may indicate feelings of discomfort regarding the decline of society in the European Union due to disruptions to healthcare access and the contraction of national economies caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.