Assessing Socio-economic Disparities in Household Health Expenditures for Pre- and Post- 1997 Economic Crisis in Thailand
- Presenter:
Chair: Albert A. Okunade; Discussant: Christopher J. Ruhm Wed June 7, 2006 9:45-11:15 Room 326
Disparity research on health care access, process, outcome, cost and expenditures are rich and substantial for the developed countries (Kirby, Taliaferro, and Zuvekas, 2006). Similar studies are sparse for most Asian countries, including Thailand, mainly due to the lack of good micro databases. Reliable national household survey data observed at biennial intervals recently became available for Thailand, however. Therefore, consistent with the falling purchasing power of the bhat currency, high costs of imported drugs and medical devices, and reduction of public and private health services emanating from the 1997 economic crisis, Thai households are hypothesized to differentially adjust health care spending across socioeconomic strata. The goals of this paper are to measure the impact of the sudden economic shift emanating from the economic crisis on pre- and post- crisis household health expenditures, and to provide insights into the relationship of variations in health care spending across income quintiles and disparities in economic, regional (or provincial), and demographic factors including proximity to death. The household data for this research are the 1994, 1996, 1998, and 2000 national Socio-economic Surveys (SES), covering 98,632 Thailand households and included detailed information on household income, expenditures and demographics. Findings from Tobit regression models of health expenditure indicate that the 1997 economic crisis negatively affected household health expenditure differentially across income quintiles. Moreover, health expenditures are significantly influenced by household median age and proximity to death. Some implications for policy and further studies are explored.
