Co-payments and the demand for pharmaceuticals: Evidence from Italy

Carlo Fiorio () and Luigi Siciliani

Economic Modelling, 2010, vol. 27, issue 4, 835-841

Abstract: This study exploits a natural experiment in Italy to estimate how the demand for pharmaceuticals responds to variations in co-payment levels. After a period where co-payments were set to zero by a national law, the decision over co-payments was devolved to the Italian regions. While some regions re-introduced the co-payment, others did not. Using a difference-in-difference approach on regional monthly data for years 2001 and 2003, we find that an increase in the co-payment by one Euro reduces the per capita number of prescriptions by 4% and per capita public pharmaceutical expenditure by 3.4%. We also find evidence that when in 2006 some regions reduced (but not removed) the co-payment, a reduction in the co-payment by one Euro increased the per capita number of prescriptions by 3.4%, and per capita public pharmaceutical expenditure by 4.9%.

Keywords: Prescriptions; Pharmaceutical; expenditure; Co-payments; Moral; hazard (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:27:y:2010:i:4:p:835-841

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