Measuring the Effects of Removing Subsidies for Private Insurance on Public Expenditure for Health Care

Terence Cheng ()

Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series from Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne

Abstract: This paper investigates the effects of removing subsidies for private health insurance on public sector expenditure for hospital care. An econometric framework using simultaneous equation models is developed to analyse the interrelated decisions on the intensity and type of health care use and insurance. The results indicate that while privately insured individuals are more likely to seek hospital care as a private patient, they do not differ in their intensity of hospital care use compared with those without private insurance. The simulation results suggest that eliminating subsides could potentially yield substantial public sector savings.

Keywords: Demand for hospital care; private insurance; bivariate count data models; simultaneous equation models; policy simulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C15 C31 H42 I11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 49 pages
Date: 2011-11
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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http://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/downloads ... series/wp2011n26.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Measuring the effects of removing subsidies for private insurance on public expenditure for health care (2011)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iae:iaewps:wp2011n26

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