In Thailand, a universal coverage health care scheme for Thai citizens and a foreign worker health insurance program for registered foreign workers have been implemented since 2001. This study uses the 2000-2004 panel data of the Kanchanaburi Demographic Surveillance System to explore the role of health insurance in influencing the use of health care for Thai, Thai ethnic minority, and ethnic minority migrants from 2000 to 2004. The results show that health insurance plays a major role in improving the use of health care for ethnic groups, especially for Thai ethnic minorities. However, a gap still existed in 2004 between health insurance and health care use by ethnic minority migrants and by Thais. The results suggest that improving health insurance status for ethnic minority migrants should be encouraged to reduce the ethnic gap in the use of health care. © 2010 APJPH.

Health care use Ethnic minority Health insurance

insurance Thailand minority group health insurance human statistics Ethnic Groups health service ethnic group Logistic Models Insurance, Health religion interview Humans Minority Groups Interviews as Topic male female Multivariate Analysis health services Article migration Utilization Review statistical model Transients and Migrants Universal Coverage Healthcare Disparities health care disparity