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

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 show that the estimated coefficient of price variable is negatively related to demand for health care in both the study areas. In both the study areas, there is no remarkable patient having health insurance because the concept of health insurance is not known to them. In demand analysis, findings of the study reached the conclusion the price of health care should be reduced in such a way that the patient gets maximum health care services. Government may set up some guidelines on consultancy fees of the private providers. On the other hand, ordinary least squares method has been employed to estimate the supply of health care in Bangladesh. The empirical results of the supply of health care show that 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.