Social Inequalities in Access to Care: The Origin Set in Categories
This article examines the ability of categories of origin, constructed and mobilized by the research and policy in public health, to objectify, understand and fight against social inequalities in access to care. Is considered for this purpose the public health literature in France and the United States. In France, nationality and country of birth of individuals are identified. But the interpretation of differences in access to care between foreign and French, immigrants and non-immigrants, runs into a blind spot, the ethno-racial origin. In the United States, by contrast, categorizations favor this dimension. Although the use of such categories stumble upon the main pitfalls anticipated by its detractors in France, it opens up valuable avenues for understanding social inequalities in access to care and fighting against them. This article aims to contribute to the discussion on the categories of origin, by placing it on a specific field, that of access to care.