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Timing Moral Hazard under Deductibles in Health Insurance

Zabrodina, V.;

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

Abstract: This paper develops a new approach to identifying timing moral hazard in health insurance contracts when deductible choice is endogenous. I set up a dynamic model of healthcare consumption where individuals exceed a high deductible after a large health shock. I show that individuals either strategically prepone care from the year after the shock and keep a high deductible, or do not retime and switch to a low deductible the year after. The identification of timing moral hazard exploits the randomness of shock timing within a calendar year. Empirical results show quantitatively large timing moral hazard responses, which decrease with the time left to the deductible reset. The insured do re-optimize on-the-go to minimize out-of-pocket costs, but face substantial frictions in retiming, which differ across types of care. These patterns bear implications for cost sharing and insurance policy.

Keywords: health insurance; strategic timing; moral hazard; insurance plan choice (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D82 I11 I13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cta and nep-hea
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:yor:hectdg:22/23

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