The Effect of Co-Payments on the Take-Up of Prenatal Tests

Marina Di Giacomo, Massimiliano Piacenza, Luigi Siciliani and Gilberto Turati ()

Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers from HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York

Abstract: Prenatal screening tests can identify genetic disorders in a fetus, but their take-up remains low in several countries. Using a Regression Discontinuity Design, we test the causal effects of a policy that eliminated co-payments for noninvasive prenatal screening tests in Italy. We find that the policy increases the probability of pregnant women’s undergoing prenatal tests by 7 to 10 percentage points, and the effect varies by socioeconomic status. We do not find evidence of substitution effects with invasive tests or that the tests affect the termination of a pregnancy and newborn health. We do find evidence of positive effects on mothers’ health behaviors during pregnancy.

Keywords: Prenatal tests; Co-payments; Maternal and newborn health; Regression Discontinuity Design (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 I14 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-11
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Related works:
Journal Article: The effect of co-payments on the take-up of prenatal tests (2022)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:yor:hectdg:20/19

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