Balance Billing as an Adherence-to-Treatment Signalling Device

Damien Besancenot, Karine Lamiraud and Radu Vranceanu

Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), 2021, vol. 177, issue 3, 359-390

Abstract: In some countries, including France, patients can choose between consulting a physician working in the regulated sector (where, in general, fees are fully covered by health insurance) and a physician working in the unregulated sector (where a balance-billing scheme operates). In the latter, patients must make out-of-pocket payments. The paper analyzes the signalling properties of this mechanism. The model reveals that a small extra fee allows obtaining a separating equilibrium in which only patients with a high propensity to adhere to the treatment will opt for the unregulated sector and will benefit from a larger care effort on the part of their physician. We also analyze the other equilibria of the game.

Keywords: balance billing; treatment adherence; signalling game; health-care systems (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D82 I11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Working Paper: Balance Billing as an Adherence-to-Treatment Signalling Device (2021)
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DOI: 10.1628/jite-2021-0011

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