 Universal coverage with supply-side reform: The impact on medical expenditure risk and utilization in ThailandSupon Limwattananon, Sven Neelsen, Owen O'Donnell, Phusit Prakongsai, Viroj Tangcharoensathien, Eddy Van Doorslaer and Vuthiphan Vongmongkol Journal of Public Economics, 2015, vol. 121, issue C, 79-94 Abstract: We estimate the impact on out-of-pocket (OOP) medical expenditure of a major reform in Thailand that greatly extended health insurance coverage to achieve universality while implementing supply-side measures intended to deliver cost-effective care from an increased, but modest, public health budget. Difference-in-differences comparison of groups to whom coverage was extended or deepened with those whose coverage did not change indicates that the reform reduced OOP expenditure by 28% on average and by 42% at the 95th percentile of the conditional distribution. Simulations suggest that exposure to medical expenditure risk was reduced by three-fifths, on average, generating a social welfare gain equivalent to 80–200% of the approximate deadweight loss from financing the reform. Estimated effects on health care access suggest that the policy managed to reduce households' medical expenses while also raising their utilization of both inpatient and ambulatory care. Keywords: Health insurance; Medical expenditure; Universal coverage; Health care; Thailand (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:121:y:2015:i:c:p:79-94 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2014.11.012 Access Statistics for this article Journal of Public Economics is currently edited by R. Boadway and J. Poterba More articles in Journal of Public Economics from Elsevier |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.