Evaluating the redistributive impact of public health expenditure using an insurance value approach

Amedeo Spadaro (), Lucia Mangiavacchi, Ignacio Moral-Arce, Marta Adiego-Estella and Angela Blanco-Moreno

The European Journal of Health Economics, 2013, vol. 14, issue 5, 775-787

Abstract: This article analyses the redistributive impact of public health expenditure in Spain using an insurance value approach to compute individual and household’s value of health services non-cash benefit. We model the intensity of use of different health care services using a count data framework on a nationally representative health care survey and then predict probabilities on the 2006 Spanish EU-SILC sample. This allows us to extend disposable income with the expected monetary value of public health services and to compare it with strictly cash income. Since non-cash income due to public health services is associated with health needs, we use needs-adjusted equivalence scales to perform distributional analysis and poverty/inequality comparisons. The results show that public health expenditure in Spain acts progressively on income distribution, and that health in-kind benefits, once considered as part of disposable income, can be extremely effective in reducing poverty and inequality. Copyright Springer-Verlag 2013

Keywords: Health equity; Health insurance; Extended income; In-kind transfers; Income distribution; Needs adjustment; H44; H51; I18; I38; J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:eujhec:v:14:y:2013:i:5:p:775-787

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DOI: 10.1007/s10198-012-0423-6

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