Risk selection and complementary health insurance: The Swiss approach

Mathias Kifmann ()

International Journal of Health Economics and Management, 2006, vol. 6, issue 2, 170 pages

Abstract: To avoid risk selection, the market for complementary health insurance is usually completely separate from the market for basic health insurance. In Switzerland, however, the basic benefit package and complementary insurance are offered by the same insurer. Risk-based premiums are allowed with respect to complementary insurance. This paper compares the Swiss integration approach to the separation approach. It is shown that under the integration approach insurers cream-skim by selling complementary insurance to low risks at a discount. Nevertheless, the integration approach can be Pareto-superior if the cost savings due to the integration of basic and complementary insurance are sufficiently large. Copyright Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2006

Keywords: Health insurance; Risk selection; Complementary insurance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kap:ijhcfe:v:6:y:2006:i:2:p:151-170

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DOI: 10.1007/s10754-006-8162-9

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