Universal health-care demands in rural Northern Thailand: gender and ethnicity

Thailand introduced a universal health-care scheme in 2001, initially with a co-payment of 30 baht (B) per physician’s visit which was abolished by the military Government in 2006. The scheme covers 75 per cent of the Thai population. Nevertheless, it lacks flexibility for the beneficiaries as it is a one-size-fits-all scheme. In this study, choicebased conjoint (CBC) analysis is used to identify the health-care demands of different subpopulations in the Mae Rim district, northern Thailand. The different demands of subpopulations, such as men, women and ethnic minorities, are revealed through the CBC analysis. Most households would pay a co-payment higher than B 30 if the services were adapted to the demand, that is, if the quality of service were improved. In general, women appear more willing to pay a higher price than men if the benefits are improved accordingly. This means that men profit much more from the policy change of dropping the co-payment than do women. Furthermore, the present analysis indicates the need for more health education training, designed to meet the needs of the Hmong people in particular.