Does full insurance increase the demand for health care?

Arbeitspapier

We estimate the causal effect of having full health insurance on health care expenditures. We take advantage of a unique quasi-experimental setup in which deductibles and co- payments were zero in a managed care plan, and non-zero in regular insurance, until a policy change forced all individuals with an active plan to cover a minimum amount of their expenses. Using panel data and a non-linear difference-in-differences strategy, we find a demand elasticity of about -0.14 comparing full insurance with the cost-sharing model, and a significant upward shift in the likelihood to generate costs.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Discussion Papers ; No. 13-05

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Analysis of Health Care Markets ; Semiparametric and Nonparametric Methods: General
• Subject: Deductibles ; health cost ; quasi experiment ; changes-in-changes

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Boes, Stefan ; Gerfin, Michael
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): University of Bern, Department of Economics
• (where): Bern
• (when): 2013

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/103841
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:41 AM CET