Demand for Medical Care in Urban Areas of Iran : An Empirical Investigation

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the factors affecting demand for medical care in Iran the population for this study relates to the Medical Care Insurance Organization of Iran. For the sake of conducting the analysis a sample of 4260 individuals are chosen using a fuzzy sampling procedure. <br />The data was then analyzed using a multinomial logit model. The results show that price has had a negative sign and has been inelastic in all different choices for medical care (four different choices were assumed for each individual and their families). <br />Income, health characteristics of the families and wealth proxies have expected signs though some with insignificant elasticities. The results are then used to assess the policy implications for the organization.