Willingness to Pay for Elderly Care in Nam Phong District, Khon Kaen Province
Keywords:
willingness to pay, elder care, dependent elderly, ageing societyAbstract
This study aimed to estimate the value of willingness-to-pay (WTP) for elderly care and study the impact of factors on willingness-to-pay for the elderly care. A total of samples in this study were 420 people aged 18 years and older, living in Sa-Ad and Nongkung subdistricts, Namphong district, Khon Kaen province. The study found that mean age of the samples was 57.6 years, 71.0% were females, 75.2% had primary school education or lower, more than a half lived with a monthly household income of <10,000 baht, more than a half reported having health problems, and 63.1% never provided care to dependent elderly. The three major problems related daily activities reported were: 9.8% having difficulty of physical movement, 8.3% feeling sick, and 6.9% having stress/depression. More than 90% of respondents were willing to join and pay for the elderly care program. The mean value of willingness-to-pay for the elderly care was 373.77 baht (SD=286.01). This study found that willingness-to-pay was significantly associated with age, household income, smoking behavior, quality of life, selfcare problem, anxiety/depression, willingness-to-join the care program and starting price (p < 0.05). The study also found that WTP value was associated with household income, size of household, years of providing elderly care, selfcare problem and starting price (p < 0.05). As willingness-to-pay for elderly care studies are still limited in Thailand, findings of the present study could be good lessons for other areas or settings.
References
Jones G. Tracking demographic changes in Thailand and policy implications. In: Jones G, Im-em W, editors. Impact of demographic change in Thailand. Bangkok: United Nations Population Fund; 2011. p. 1-16.
Pakulski J. Facing the challenges of an ageing society. In: Kendig H, McDonald P, Piggott J, editors. Population ageing and Australia’s future. Canberra: ANU press; 2016. p.111-134.
Foundation of Thai Gerontology Research and Development Institute (TGRI). Situation of the Thai elderly 2020. Nakhon Pathom: Institute for Population and Social Research; 2021. p. 1-135. (in Thai)
Ministry of Social Development and Human Security. The Thai elderly; present and future. Bangkok: Techno M-Society; 2014. (in Thai)
National Health Security Office. Handbook of long-term care for dependent elderly under the national health security system. Bangkok: National Health Security Office; 2007. p. 1-87. (in Thai)
Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council. Competency of the Thai population for future development in Thailand. Paper presented at: The Movement of 12th National Plan for the Future of Thailand; 2017 July 3; Nonthaburi, Thailand. Available from: https://waa.inter.nstda.or.th/stks/pub/2017/20170702-1-Thailand-potential-for-future-Thailand.pdf. (in Thai)
Zaidi A. Population ageing and financial and social sustainability challenges of pension systems in Europe: a cross-national perspective. The future of multi-pillar pensions. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press; 2012. (in Thai)
Chandoevwit W, Chawla A. Economic impact and human capital. In: Jones G, Im-em W, editors. Impact of demographic change in Thailand. Bangkok: United Nations Population Fund; 2011. p. 85-98.
Bundhamcharoen K, Patcharanarumol W, Pagaiya N, Tangcharoensathien V. Demographic and health transition: health systems challenges and future direction. In: Jones G, Im-em W, editors. Impact of demographic change in Thailand. Bangkok: United Nations Population Fund; 2011. p. 65-84.
Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council. Elderly statistics. Bangkok, Thailand [internet]. [cited 2022 Sep 12]. Available from: https://www.nesdc.go.th/main.php?filename=social. (in Thai)
Ministry of Public Health. Annual report 2019. Division of Non Communicable Diseases [internet]. [cited 2020 Feb 27]. Available from: http://www.thaincd.com/document/file/download/paper-manual/ReportAnnualDNCD62 (in Thai)
National Statistical Office. Report on the 2017 survey of the older persons in Thailand. Bangkok: National Statistical Office; 2018. p. 1-221. Available from: http://www.nso.go.th/sites/2014en/Survey/social/domographic/OlderPer-sons/2017/Full%20Report_080618.pdf. (in Thai)
King P, Jackson H. Public finance implications of population ageing. Ottawa: Department of Finance Working Paper; 2000-08. p. 1-49. Available from: https://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/200/301/finance/working_papers-ef/2000/2000-08/2000-08e.pdf.
Doungthipsirikul S. Having universal health coverage, what Thai households have to pay for?. Nonthaburi: HITAP Policy Brief 2561;5(50):1-4. Available from: https://www.hitap.net/documents/172913. (in Thai)
The Act on the Elderly B. E. 2546 (2003). [updated 2003 Dec 22; cited 2021 Aug 25]. Available from: http://www.dop.go.th/download/laws/regulation_th_20160807155130_1.pdf. (in Thai)
Ministry of Public Health. Technical guidance for budgeting and financial management for health care services for dependent elderly and services from the health security scheme provided by local government under the administration of the Ministry of Public Health [internet]. 2018. [cited 2021 Aug 25]. p. 1-13. Available from: https://dhes.moph.go.th/?p=6245. (in Thai)
National Health Security Office. Meeting for clarification over the budget for public health services for dependent elderly in the year 2017. [updated 2016 Oct 12; cited 2021 Aug 25]. Available from: https://www.nhso.go.th/storage/files/shares/PDF/fund_ltc27.pdf. (in Thai)
National Health Security Office. Guidance of budget fund in the year 2016. Bangkok; Thailand. [cited 2021 Aug 25]. Available from: https://www.nhso.go.th/page/fund_long_term_care. (in Thai)
National Health Security Office. Guidance of budget fund in the year 2017. Bangkok; Thailand [internet]. [cited 2021 Aug 25]. Available from: https://www.nhso.go.th/storage/files/shares/PDF/fund_ltc04.pdf. (in Thai)
National Health Security Office. Guidance of budget fund in the year 2018. Bangkok; Thailand [internet]. [cited 2021 Aug 25]. Available from: https://www.nhso.go.th/storage/files/shares/PDF/fund_ltc05.pdf. (in Thai)
National Health Security Office. Guidance of budget fund in the year 2019. Bangkok; Thailand [internet]. [cited 2021 Aug 25]. Available from: https://www.nhso.go.th/page/fund_long_term_care. (in Thai)
Hanemann WM. Willingness to pay and willingness to accept: how much can they differ?. The American Economic Review 1991;81(3):635-47.
Breidert C, Hahsler M, Reutterer T. A review of methods for measuring willingness-to-pay. Innovative Marketing 2006;2(4):8-32.
Cookson R. Willingness to pay methods in health care: a sceptical view. Health Economics 2003;12(11):891-4.
Loh CP, Shapiro A. Willingness to pay for home-and community-based services for seniors in Florida. Home Health Care Services Quarterly 2013;32(1):17-34.
Lang HC, Lai MS. Willingness to pay to sustain and expand National Health Insurance services in Taiwan. BMC Health Services Research 2008;8(261):1-10.
Kitajima T. Willingness to pay for long-term care insurance system in a municipality in Tokyo. Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health 1999;11(2):101-8.
Nieboer AP, Koolman X, Stolk EA. Preferences for long-term care services: willingness to pay estimates derived from a discrete choice experiment. Social Science & Medicine 2010;70(9):1317-25.
Kananurak P. Willingness to pay for voluntary health insurance after retirement in Thailand. NIDA Development Journal 2014;54(2):117-57.
Lapsomboondee A, Sukpaiboonwat S, Ratniyom A. willingness to pay for long-term care for the elderly. Journal of Economics and Management Strategy 2021;8(1):115-29.
Chandoevwit W, Wasi N. Estimating demand for long-term care insurance in Thailand: evidence from a discrete choice experiment. Puey Ungphakorn Institute for Economic Research discussion paper 106; 2019. p.1-29.
Kim KC, Kwon SC. Health expenditure difference according to individual copayment in national health insurance system. The Open Public Health Journal 2021;14(1):225-32.
Kiil A, Houlberg K. How does copayment for health care services affect demand, health and redistribution? A systematic review of the empirical evidence from 1990 to 2011. The European Journal of Health Economics 2014;15(8):813-28.
Mulvaney-Day NE. Using willingness to pay to measure family members’ preferences in mental health. J Ment Health Policy Econ 2005;8(2):71-81.
Hanemann WM. Willingness to pay and willingness to accept: how much can they differ?. The American Economic Review 1991;81(3):635-47.
Amilon A, Ladenburg J, Siren A, Østergaard SV. Willingness to pay for long-term home care services: evidence from a stated preferences analysis. The Journal of the Economics of Ageing 2020;17(100238):1-22.
Klose T. The contingent valuation method in health care. Health policy 1999;47(2):97-123.
Chaiyasong S, Saenkong N, Saramunee K, Malasai K, Kalapat R. Impacts of dependent elderly care program by family care team in Namphong district, Khon Kaen province. Final research report. Nonthaburi: Health Systems Research Institute; 2020. [cited 2021 Aug 25]. Available from: https://kb.hsri.or.th/dspace/bitstream/handle/11228/5309/hs2637.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y. (in Thai)
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Journal of Health Systems Research
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Journal of Health Systems Research is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license, unless otherwise stated.
