Browsing by Author "Arega Tesfaye"

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    The Demand for Curative Health Care in Jimma Town: Choosing Between Health Care Providers
    (Addis Ababa University, 2003-07) Arega Tesfaye; Bedri Abdulhamid
    This paper tried to estimate the demand for curative health care in Jimma town. Based on economic theory and past studies, NMNL (Nested Multinomial Logit) model is identified and estimated using sequential estimation procedure. For the estimation of the model the study used primary data which were collected from Jimma town through sample survey during the month of February 2003. The estimated model shows that the level of healthiness, family structure (number of children), consumption level, patient’s age and perceived quality of treatment are important factors that determine the demand for curative health care. Furthermore, the study indicates the price insensitiveness of the demand for curative health care services. However, the price insensitiveness decreases as prices increases and as income decreases implying that the poor are more price sensitive than the rich. The policy implication of the result is that the modest differentiated increase in price of public hospital results in substantial increase in revenue. The differentiated increase in price helps the poor section of the society and children by decreasing the free riding by the rich. Moreover, the study result implies that the introduction of higher user fees should also be accompanied by increase in quality of hospital services in order to offset the negative effects of higher price. Taking the two measures together, increasing user fees and increasing quality of services, helps to achieve dual benefit in health care system by increasing revenue and health service utilization simultaneously. Key words: demand for curative health care, mode of treatment, self-care, modern medical care, NMNL, user fees, price sensitiveness.