Exit, Voice or Loyalty? An Investigation into Mandated Portability of Front-Loaded Private Health Plans

Juan Pablo Atal, Hanming Fang, Martin Karlsson and Nicolas Ziebarth ()

No 23468, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We study theoretically and empirically how consumers in an individual private long-term health insurance market with front-loaded contracts respond to newly mandated portability requirements of their old-age provisions. To foster competition, effective 2009, German legislature made the portability of standardized old-age provisions mandatory. Our theoretical model predicts that the portability reform will increase internal plan switching. However, under plausible assumptions, it will not increase external insurer switching. Moreover, the portability reform will enable unhealthier enrollees to reoptimize their plans. We find confirmatory evidence for the theoretical predictions using claims panel data from a big private insurer.

JEL-codes: G22 I11 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age, nep-eur, nep-hea and nep-ias
Note: EH IO PE
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published as Juan Pablo Atal & Hanming Fang & Martin Karlsson & Nicolas R. Ziebarth, 2019. "Exit, Voice, or Loyalty? An Investigation Into Mandated Portability of Front‐Loaded Private Health Plans," Journal of Risk and Insurance, vol 86(3), pages 697-727.

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Related works:
Journal Article: Exit, Voice, or Loyalty? An Investigation Into Mandated Portability of Front‐Loaded Private Health Plans (2019)
Working Paper: Exit, Voice or Loyalty? An Investigation into Mandated Portability of Front-Loaded Private Health Plans (2017)
Working Paper: Exit, Voice or Loyalty? An Investigation into Mandated Portability of Front-Loaded Private Health Plans (2017)
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