Selection and incentive effects: an econometric study of swiss health insurance claims data

Details

Serval ID
serval:BIB_223ED3A29F2C
Type
A part of a book
Publication sub-type
Chapter: chapter ou part
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Selection and incentive effects: an econometric study of swiss health insurance claims data
Title of the book
Competitive failures in insurance markets : theory and policy implications
Author(s)
Gardiol Lucien, Geoffard Pierre-Yves, Grandchamp Chantal
Publisher
MIT Press
Address of publication
Cambridge, Mass.
Publication state
Published
Issued date
2006
Editor
Gollier Pierre-André, Chiappori Christian
Pages
81-95
Language
english
Abstract
This paper presents an empirical analysis of the link between health insurance coverage and health care expenditures. We use claims data for over 60 000 adult individuals covered by a major Swiss Health Insurance Fund, followed for up to four years. In the Swiss health insurance system, each individual can choose between five plans, corresponding to different levels of annual deductible. The data show a strong positive correlation between coverage and expenditure. We provide a simple method to separate selection effects (due to individual choice of coverage) and incentive effects (" moral hazard "). The method only requires that there exists an observable variable: 1. correlated with the unobservable health status; 2. not affected by incentives. The analysis of mortality rates indicates important selection effects, which is confirmed by the data on inpatient care. However, the positive correlation between coverage and outpatient expenditure is not fully explained by selection effects, and moral hazard effects are of the same order of magnitude.
Keywords
Insurance, Health Models, Econometric, Switzerland
Create date
19/11/2007 10:46
Last modification date
20/08/2019 13:59
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