The Declining Effect of Insurance on Life Expectancy

Abstract

This paper used Reiterative Truncated Projected Least Squares (RTPLS) to estimate the effects on life expectancy of an additional dollar of insurance premiums for 43 countries. The data shows a clear positive relationship between insurance and life expectancy with insurance premiums increasing much faster than the inflation rate. The relationship d(life expectancy)/d(insurance) fell by a statistically significant amount (at a 95 percent confidence level) for 35 of the countries (and the eight exceptions to this pattern had relatively short data series). By 2020, the last dollar of per capita insurance increased a US citizen’s life expectancy at birth by only 6 days, a citizen in the United Kingdom by only 9 days, a citizen in Switzerland by only 7 days, and a citizen in Luxembourg by only 1 day. With such small returns to insurance, an important question is, “Could a society gain more life expectancy by shifting money from insurance into alternative uses”?

Which Direction to Take Further Research on the Impacts of Telomere Attrition on Aging, Age-Related Diseases, and Overall Healthcare Expenditures

“…The existing gaps will then be explored for the purpose of determining which direction telomere research should be taken in the future to answer the unsolved questions posed as a result of the literature review. This paper fits in well both with the general literature (Carraher et al 2004(Carraher et al , 2005; Chapter 5 of Evaluating Challenges and Opportunities for Healthcare Reform, Haas et al 2020;Carraher et al 2008;Vojinović et al 2022;Yu et al 2022;Kamath et al 2023;Sullivan 1999;Sullivan et al 2009) and the journal literature (Courbage and Nicolas 2021;Nobanee et al 2021;Stype 2022;Sibindi 2022;Al Rahahleh 2022;Hamin et al 2022;Kyriakopoulos et al 2022;Leightner 2022;Narita 2023). This paper fits into the Special Issue of the Journal of Risk and Financial Management, as it discusses the influence of age on healthcare expenditures as well as the demand and utilization of healthcare services.…”

Consumption of Healthcare Services in the United States: The Impact of Health Insurance

“…The purpose of this paper is to study the aforementioned relationship as well as additional factors that influence a patient's decision when it comes to the consumption of healthcare in the United States. This fits in well both with the general literature (Carraher et al 2004(Carraher et al , 2005, Chapter 5 of Evaluating Challenges and Opportunities for Healthcare Reform (Haas et al 2020), and (Carraher et al 2008;Vojinović et al 2022;Yu et al 2022;Kamath et al 2023;Sullivan 1999;Sullivan et al 2009), as well as the literature of the journal (Courbage and Nicolas 2021;Nobanee et al 2021;Stype 2022;Sibindi 2022;Al Rahahleh 2022;Hamin et al 2022;Kyriakopoulos et al 2022;Leightner 2022). The Journal of Risk and Financial Management's scope is based in finance and economics.…”