Does healthcare inequity reflect variations in peoples' abilities to access healthcare? Results from a multi-jurisdictional interventional study in two high-income countries.

We showed that those at higher risk of social vulnerability are more likely to report problematic access and also have low scores on ability to seek, reach, pay, and engage with healthcare. Equity-oriented healthcare interventions should pay particular attention to enhancing people's abilities to access care in addition to modifying organizational processes and structures that reinforce social systems of discrimination or exclusion.