Does Full Insurance Increase the Demand for Health Care?

Stefan Boes and Michael Gerfin

Health Economics, 2016, vol. 25, issue 11, 1483-1496

Abstract: We estimate the causal impact of having full health insurance on healthcare expenditures. We take advantage of a unique quasi‐experimental setup in which deductibles and co‐payments were zero in a managed care plan and nonzero 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 nonlinear 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. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.3266

Related works:
Working Paper: Does Full Insurance Increase the Demand for Health Care? (2013)
Working Paper: Does full insurance increase the demand for health care? (2013)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:25:y:2016:i:11:p:1483-1496

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