Unmet health-care needs among older adults living alone in Thailand

Abstract

The present study examined unmet health-care needs (UHN) among older adults living alone in Thailand. This study had two specific objectives: (i) to analyze the effect of living alone on UHN using a matched sample obtained from a propensity score matching method and (ii) to analyze the sociodemographic determinants of UHN using the entire sample of data. Descriptive analysis and logistic regression were employed, along with Thailand’s 2019 Health and Welfare Survey dataset. The findings indicated that older people living alone experienced 1.613 (confidence interval [CI]: 1.066 – 2.440) times more UHN than those living with others (Objective 1). Moreover, older people with low incomes and chronic diseases experienced 1.391 (CI: 1.015 – 1.923) and 5.629 (CI: 4.375 – 7.243) times more UHN than their counterparts (Objective 2). Non-medical costs and a lack of social support facilitating access to health care (e.g., a lack of caretakers to bring older people to health-care providers and a lack of affordable transportation options) may have been the primary causes of the high UHN rate for these groups, as indicated in previous studies. Thus, the government should continue its efforts to alleviate these issues. Specifically, the existing community health volunteer program should prioritize older people living alone who need caretakers during illness. Local health authorities should support the program by offering health emergency vehicles, especially to those living outside major cities with limited transportation options to access health-care providers. The government should also increase the old-age allowance to enhance the financial independence of older people and extend the current telemedicine services to district hospitals and community health centers. Such measures have significantly improved health-care access for low-income older people who do not have extra resources to travel to health-care providers and chronically ill older people who need regular health care in Thailand.