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The health effects of universal health care : evidence from Thailand

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  • Wagstaff, Adam
  • Manachotphong, Wanwiphang

Abstract

This paper exploits the staggered rollout of Thailand’s universal health coverage scheme to estimate its impacts on whether individuals report themselves as being too ill to work. The statistical power comes from the fact that there is an average of 62,000 respondents in the labor force survey at each survey date and no less than 68 survey dates, most of which are just one month apart. The analysis finds that universal coverage reduced the likelihood of people reporting themselves to be too sick to work: the authors estimate the effect to be -0.004 one year after universal coverage and -0.007 three years after. The estimated effects are much larger among those age 65 and over. Universal coverage had a much larger effect on health (about four times larger) than the Village Fund scheme, which provided free credit to rural households through a subsidized microcredit scheme and which was rolled out around the same time as universal coverage.

Suggested Citation

  • Wagstaff, Adam & Manachotphong, Wanwiphang, 2012. "The health effects of universal health care : evidence from Thailand," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6119, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6119
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    4. Boonperm, Jirawan & Haughton, Jonathan & Khandker, Shahidur R. & Rukumnuaykit, Pungpond, 2012. "Appraising the Thailand village fund," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5998, The World Bank.
    5. Finkelstein, Amy & McKnight, Robin, 2008. "What did Medicare do? The initial impact of Medicare on mortality and out of pocket medical spending," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(7), pages 1644-1668, July.
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    7. Pannarunothai, Supasit & Patmasiriwat, Direk & Srithamrongsawat, Samrit, 2004. "Universal health coverage in Thailand: ideas for reform and policy struggling," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 17-30, April.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Thi Ngoc Tu Le, 2020. "Floods and Household Welfare: Evidence from Southeast Asia," Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 145-170, April.
    2. Huang, Xianguo & Yoshino, Naoyuki, 2015. "Impacts of Universal Health Coverage: A Micro-founded Macroeconomic Perspective," ADBI Working Papers 533, Asian Development Bank Institute.
    3. Huang, Xianguo & Yoshino, Naoyuki, 2016. "Impacts of Universal Health Coverage: Financing, Income Inequality, and Social Welfare," ADBI Working Papers 617, Asian Development Bank Institute.
    4. Rieger, Matthias & Wagner, Natascha & Bedi, Arjun S., 2017. "Universal health coverage at the macro level: Synthetic control evidence from Thailand," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 46-55.
    5. Rieger, M. & Wagner, N. & Bedi, A.S., 2015. "Macroeconomic impacts of Universal Health Coverage : Synthetic control evidence from Thailand," ISS Working Papers - General Series 609, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    6. Hsu, Minchung & Huang, Xianguo & Yupho, Somrasri, 2015. "The development of universal health insurance coverage in Thailand: Challenges of population aging and informal economy," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 227-236.
    7. Ghislando, S & Manachotphong, W & Perego, VME, 2013. "The impact of Universal Health Coverage on healthcare consumption and risky behaviours: evidence from Thailand," Working Papers 11200, Imperial College, London, Imperial College Business School.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Health Monitoring&Evaluation; Health Systems Development&Reform; Health Economics&Finance; Population Policies; Health Law;
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