The Abolition of User Fees and the Demand for Health Care: Re-Evaluating the Impact

Steven Koch

No 201219, Working Papers from University of Pretoria, Department of Economics

Abstract: The abolition of user fees in South Africa, a policy implemented in 1994 for children under the age of six and the elderly, as well as pregnant and nursing mothers, is examined via regression discontinuity. The analysis focuses on provider choice decisions for curative care treatment, but also examines potential externalities that could arise from the policy. As a result of the policy, curative care demand in the public sector is found to increase by approximately 7 percent; however, the demand for curative care in the private sector is found to decrease by nearly the same amount, suggesting that the policy led to provider choice substitution. The analysis further supports the hypothesis that the health of young children improved marginally.

Keywords: Free Health Care; Regression Discontinuity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 41 pages
Date: 2012-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pre:wpaper:201219

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