Income Elasticity for Medical Care Services: An Empirical Study in Thailand
Journal Title: Thammasat Review of Economic and Social Policy - Year 2016, Vol 2, Issue 1
Abstract
The objective of this paper is to investigate the potential household income effect on public and private health care choices for outpatient and inpatient services. A multinomial logit model on choice of health care services is estimated using the Health and Welfare Survey 2006 data from Thailand with information on the number of hospitals and doctors in each province. The results indicate that an increase in monthly household income has an impact on the likelihood of healthcare utilization. Income elasticity for outpatient services is approximately 0.17 and 0.21 at clinics and private hospitals respectively. Income elasticity for inpatient services is approximately 0.10 at public provincial hospitals and 0.25 at private hospitals. The positive income elasticity indicates that services at these healthcare providers are a necessity. In contrast, income elasticity is approximately -0.13 and -0.20 for outpatient and inpatient services at public district hospitals. This suggests that district hospitals may be an inferior good. This implies that patients from wealthier families are more likely to visit private hospitals or public provincial hospitals. The Universal Coverage or Gold Card beneficiaries show a positive statistically significant probability of visiting public district hospitals for outpatient and inpatient services. From the policy perspective, Universal Coverage or Gold Card plan should be designed for segments of population below a certain income level. The government can use funds that made available by the decreased number of Universal Coverage or Gold Card beneficiaries to raise the capitation rate or hire additional medical staff at district hospitals.
Authors and Affiliations
Kaewkwan Tangtipongkul
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP553684
- DOI 10.14456/tresp.2016.5
- Views 109
- Downloads 0
Mitigating of Financing Constraints in the Thai Banking System
The objective of this article is to analyze the development in mitigation of “financing constraints” in Thai banking system for both corporate and household sectors since the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997, which was a g...
Property Tax in Thailand: An Assessment and Policy Implications
This paper explores the ways in which the proposed new Land and Building Tax bill could be used to increase local government revenue and reduce wealth inequality in Thailand while rationalizing the current system of land...
Role of Education Policies in Bhutan and its Impact on the Economy
Education has had a tremendous impact on economic development both in general and in helping to transform the lives of individuals. There is no doubt that education is a core element of any sector development. However, e...
Changing Thailand's Future with Tax Reform
At present, Thailand is facing an urgent need for tax reform that can alleviate its long-term fiscal deficit, a condition that is threatening to destabilize the country's economy. The approach that should be taken to sol...
Credit Guarantee Optimization of State-owned Enterprises
The objective of this paper is to estimate the credit risk of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in the form of probability of default (PD) and then use it to analyze credit guarantee optimization. Estimation of the probabil...