An Analysis of Demand for and Supply of Health Care in Bangladesh: An Econometric Approach

Abstract

The study attempts to estimate the factors, which influence the demand for health care as well as supply of health care in Bangladesh. A binary logistic regression has been employed with two urban samples in Bangladesh for analyzing the demand for health care. The empirical results of this research shows that price of healthcare has negative effects on the demand for healthcare in both study areas. The levels of education and income have positive effect on demand for healthcare in the both study areas. Duration of illness has a negative effect on demand for health care in both study areas. In both areas there is no remarkable health insurance because the concept of health insurance is not popular. On the other hand, ordinary least square has been employed to estimate the supply of health care in Bangladesh. The empirical results of supply of health care shows that average price of physician visit and gross domestic product are positively related to supply of health care and it is statistically significant at 5 percent level.