Healthcare utilization and outcomes for insured dependent children: evidence from Indonesia

Kalyan Kolukuluri ()
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Kalyan Kolukuluri: Indian Institute of Management Visakhapatnam

Empirical Economics, 2022, vol. 63, issue 2, No 14, 945-977

Abstract: Abstract In this study, I examine the role of health insurance cover in improving access to healthcare services and consequently its role in improving health outcomes for dependent children. I utilize differences in temporal variation of insurance cover for dependent children and their cousins, within the same Indonesian household to estimate the effect. By comparing dependent children of different biological parents, living in the same household, this study avoids potential confounders for healthcare demand, such as health endowment due to nutrition and hygiene. I find that dependent children of government employees have increased access to health insurance. In terms of healthcare use, I find no impact of insurance in providing access to preventive care as an outpatient. Instead, insurance status positively impacted first time and repeat visits to private facilities for curative care only. Insured children were 4.4 per cent more likely, than uninsured cousins, to access first-time curative care and make 63 per cent more repeat visits as an outpatient. In contrast, for inpatient services, insured children sought care at public facilities. Insurance did not have a positive impact on health outcomes for dependents. The results are robust to an instrumental variable estimation, alongside household fixed effects, which addresses concerns on potential endogeneity of insurance cover.

Keywords: Healthcare access; Child health; Dependent insurance; Employer-based insurance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D81 I13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1007/s00181-021-02146-9

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