Empirical Evidence on Long-term Care Insurance Purchase in France

Abstract

While many theoretical arguments have been proposed to explain the decision whether to purchase long-term care (LTC) insurance, little work has been done to study this phenomenon empirically. This article uses cross-sectional data from the newly developed SHARE (Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe) database to estimate the determinants of the probability of purchasing LTC insurance in France. We show that LTC insurance is purchased not only to preserve bequests and to financially protect families in the event of disability, but also to reduce the burden on potential informal care givers. Risk behaviours as well as experience of disability also play a significant role in explaining the demand for LTC insurance in France.

A Country for Old Men? Long‐term Home Care Utilization in Europe

“… In line with Sloan and Norton (), Mellor () and Courbage and Roudaut (), this result also undermines a necessary condition of the so‐called intrafamily moral hazard hypothesis, which is often invoked to explain the lack of systematic purchasing of LTC insurance. Brau and Lippi Bruni () reached a similar conclusion in an application of stated preference approaches to the demand for LTC insurance.…”

On insuring and caring for parents’ long-term care needs

“…Indeed, in contrast to the notion that family members serve as substitutes for LTC insurance, Mellor (2001) showed for the U.S. that the availability of informal caregivers has no statistically significant effect on insurance purchase. This was confirmed by Courbage and Roudaut (2008) who found for France that the probability of owning LTC insurance increases for those who have a higher probability of receiving informal care should the need arise in the future. In the light of this current research, an explanation of these empirical results could come from the fact that children are involved in the decision to purchase LTC insurance.…”

Impact of the Introduction of the Social Long-Term Care Insurance in Germany on Financial Security Assessment in Case of Long-Term Care Need

“…1 German studies are found in Breyer (1991Breyer ( ,1992, Buchholz and Wiegard (1992) and Eisen (1992); international studies are found in Courbage and Roudaut (2008), Guille´n and Pinquet (2008), CostaFont et al (2008), Parker and Clarke (1997), Brown and Finkelstein (2007) and Doerpinghaus and Gustavson (2002). 2 Kunreuther (1978).…”