Do High Income Earners Have Better Health? The Case Study in Kedah, Malaysia

Identifying important factors that influence health status is essential in ensuring an effective health intervention. One of the factors that may contribute to the differences in individual health is the level of income. This study attempts to determine the effect of income, measured at household level, on individual health within the Malaysian context. The sample consists of individuals aged 18 and above from selected households. The self-assessed health (SAH) is used in this study to represent health status. Given that the response of SAH is in the form of ordinal, the ordered logit model, which is more appropriate than the widely used linear regression techniques, is utilized in estimating the effect of income. Controlling for other socio-economic and other health-related factors, there is evidence that income is statistically significant in determining the level of individual health with a positive effect, suggesting the existence of income related inequity in health.