An Econometric Model of Healthcare Demand With Nonlinear Pricing

Abstract

From 2004 to 2012, the German social health insurance levied a co-payment for the first doctor visit in a calendar quarter. We develop a new model for estimating the effect of such a co-payment on the individual number of visits per quarter. The model allows for a one time increase in the otherwise constant hazard rate determining the timing of doctor visits, and uses a difference-in-differences strategy to identify the reform effect. The model can be adapted to a situation where the reporting period and the calendar quarter differ. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we do not find an effect of the co-payment on demand for doctor visits.JEL Classification: I10, C25

Does Social Isolation Affect Medical Doctor Visits? New Evidence Among European Older Adults

“…In the empirically literature there are various examples of modelling count measures for health care (Pohlmeier and Ultrich, 1995;Deb and Trivedi, 2002;Kunz and Winkelmann, 2017). This body of studies usually consider as regressors variables related with age, sex, need/morbility, and other socio-demographic factors such as marital status, education attainment and labour status.…”