Voluntary private health insurance, health-related behaviours and health outcomes: evidence from Russia

Andrey Aistov, Ekaterina Aleksandrova and Christopher Gerry

The European Journal of Health Economics, 2021, vol. 22, issue 2, No 9, 309 pages

Abstract: Abstract This paper contributes to the discussion around ex-post (increased utilisation of health care) and ex-ante (changes in health behaviours) moral hazard in supplemental private health insurance. Applying a range of methodologies to data from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey—Higher School of Economics we exploit a selection mechanism in the data to compare the impact of workplace provided and individually purchased supplemental health insurance on the utilisation of health care, on a range of health behaviours and on self-assessed health. We find compelling policy-relevant evidence of ex-post moral hazard that confirms a theoretical prediction and empirical regularity found in other settings. In contrast to other empirical findings though, our data reveals evidence of ex-ante moral hazard demonstrated by clear behavioural differences between those with self-funded supplemental health insurance and those for whom the workplace finances the additional insurance. We find no evidence that either form of insurance is related to improved self-assessed health.

Keywords: Moral hazard; Supplemental voluntary health insurance; Health behaviours; Health outcomes; RLMS-HSE; Russia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C25 I13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10198-020-01252-2

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