Health insurance for the urban poor : the case of Slum Dwellers in Bangkok, a research report

Abstract

The research aims to provide a fuller body of knowledge of the health of the population to complement and supplement existing knowledge and other research undertakings. The research topic is concerned fundamentally with the access to health services and the sources of finance of these services among one of the most disadvantaged groups in the country, namely slum dwellers. It therefore complements other research that has been done or is currently being undertaken with the aim of understanding the health problems of disadvantaged groups The specific objectives of the research are as follows: 1) to obtain information on the socio-economic-demographic characteristics of selected groups of the urban poor, their income, occupation, education, skills, family size and composition, migration history, and so on; 2) to investigate their access to health care services, involving a survey of services available, taking into account their “prices”, choice and attitudes towards them, whether there are important supply constraints on the use of services, rationing by socio-economic characteristics, or lack of access due to prohibitive distance/waiting time; 3) to determine how health care is financed, the willingness of households to pay for services, their actual expenditures, and the feasibility of introducing an urban health-card system similar to the rural health card project for which Thailand is widely known.