The determinants of the demand for private health insurance under Medicare

Hopkins, Sandra; Kidd, Michael P.

doi:10.1080/000368496327598

Cited by 77 publications

(95 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Various theoretical models have been designed to explain the demand for health insurance. Some of them have been applied in experimental analysis [6,7,8,9]. However, most of the studies have expanded the model developed first by Grossman and are based on expected utility theory [10].…”

Section: Background and Theoretical Issuesmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Estimating rural households? willingness to pay for health insurance

Asgary

Willis

Taghvaei

et al. 2004

Eur J Health Econom

104

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In many developing countries limited health budgets are a serious problem. Innovative ways to raise funds for the provision of health services, for example, through health care insurance, have a high priority. Health care insurance for rural households shields such patients from unexpected high costs of care. However, there are questions about whether, and how much, rural households are willing to pay to purchase such insurance, as well as the factors determining willingness to pay. In recent years the Iranian government has tried to improve health and medical services to rural areas through a health insurance program. This study was conducted to estimate rural households' demand and willingness to pay for health insurance. A contingent valuation method (CVM) was applied using an iterative bidding game technique. Data has been collected from a sample of 2,139 households across the country.

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Section: Background and Theoretical Issuesmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Theoretical and experimental models have been used to analyse the demand for health insurance [12,13,14,15,16,17]. In these models the purchase of health insurance as the dependent variable is related to various explanatory variables.…”

Section: Background and Theoretical Issuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimating rural households? willingness to pay for health insurance

Asgary

Willis

Taghvaei

et al. 2004

Eur J Health Econom

104

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“…[21][22][23][24] However, as the purpose of this new PHI model was to link it to the NSW hospitals model, only variables that also exist in that model were included in the equation.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distributional impact of recent changes in private health insurance policies

Walker

Percival²,

Thurecht³

et al. 2005

Aust. Health Review

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The impacts of changes to private health insurance (PHI) policies introduced since 1999 -in particular the 30% PHI rebate and the Lifetime Health Cover -have been much debated. We present historical analyses of the impacts in terms of the proportion of Australians having hospital insurance cover under different PHI policies, by age, gender and socioeconomic status, and project these to 2010 using a new Private Health Insurance coverage model.The combined effect of the 30% rebate and Lifetime Health Cover was to increase PHI membership from just over 30% in 1998 to just under 50% by the end of 2000, due mainly to more people taking out PHI cover from among the richest 20% of the population. Among the poorest 40% the impact was minimal. Model projections suggested that, had the new PHI policies not been introduced, then the proportion of Australians with PHI would have declined to around 20% by 2010, compared with 40% if the current arrangements remained in place. Also, analysis of 2001 survey data regarding choices to use a public or a private hospital indicated that higher income groups with or without PHI were the more likely to have used a private hospital than lower income groups. Among those with PHI, older people were more likely to have used a private hospital than ALTHOUGH IN RECENT DECADES the health of populations in developed countries like Australia improved considerably, the related expenditures tended to outpace economic growth. This resulted in nations searching for ways to contain costs, most typically in the hospital sector, such as the passing on of a larger share of the costs to individuals. 1,2 Examples of this latter approach are the Federal government' s recently introduced policies to increase the take-up of private health insurance (PHI). Basically, the policies are the 30% private health insurance rebate, Lifetime Health Cover and the Medicare Levy Surcharge (Appendix A). When the 30% rebate was introduced, one stated aim was to ease the burden on Medicare, in particular on public hospitals.A recent inquiry 3 examined the issue of whether these policies had achieved their aim of easing the burden on public hospitals. While researchers What is known about the topic? Recent changes in private health insurance (PHI) policies were motivated partly by concern about the continuing decline in the number of people purchasing PHI. The changes have been effective in reversing the decline in the short term and have led to strong increases in coverage among younger people. What does this paper add?Modelling of the impact of policy settings indicates that removal of the 30% rebate would cause a small drop in proportion covered compared to the impact of removal of life-time cover in combination with the rebate. Under all scenarios, the model indicates continuing long-term decline in the proportion of the population purchasing PHI. Under current policies, the proportion covered would decline to 40% by 2010. What are the implications?Removal of the 30% rebate would have a considerably lesser impa...

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“…Across the UK, the US, and Australia, the evidence from the literature suggests that a number of factors are associated with a higher likelihood of holding private health insurance or prescription drug coverage: higher education, higher income (Lillard et al 1999;Hopkins and Kidd 1996;Chernew et al 1997;King and Mossialos 2002), and full-time employment along with being white as opposed to black, Hispanic, or of another race (Park and Buechner 1997;Lillard et al 1997). Good health and age are also correlates of private health insurance, (Wilcox-Gok and Rubin 1994;Shea and Stewart 1995;Hopkins andKidd 1996 andPol et al 2002) although there are mixed results regarding whether the oldest of the elderly ("old-old") individuals are more likely than the youngest of the elderly ("young-old") to have private health insurance (Kanavos 2007;Kanavos and Gemmill 2004). Smoking was found to decrease the likelihood of having private health insurance (Propper 1989;Hopkins and Kidd 1996).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…A significant proportion of the literature regarding elderly insurance coverage has focused on the decision to purchase private health insurance (Propper 1989;Fronstin et al 1997;Propper 1993;Hopkins and Kidd 1996;Besley et al 1996;Lillard et al 1997;Royalty and Solomon 1999;King and Mossialos 2002). Particular attention has paid to the decision to purchase employer-based health insurance (Feldman et al 1989;Barringer and Mitchell 1994;Marquis and Long 1995;Bundorf 2001 andAbraham et al 2002), health insurance purchase by low income workers (Chernew et al 1997;Kronick and Gilmer 2002), prescription drug insurance (Kanavos and Gemmill 2004;Lillard et al 1999), and the association between race, age and health insurance (Wilcox-Gok and Rubin 1994; Shea and Stewart 1995;Park and Buechner 1997;Blumberg et al 2000 andPol et al 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prescription drug coverage among elderly and disabled Americans: can Medicare—Part D reduce inequities in access?

Kanavos

Gemmill-Toyama

2010

Int J Health Care Finance Econ

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This paper explores the determinants of demand for prescription drug coverage among the elderly population in the United States, using data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) and seeks to analyse the impact that the Medicare prescription drug coverage bill (Medicare-Part D) has on Medicare beneficiaries. The results indicate that individuals who are Hispanic, black, or of another race or ethnicity, over the age of 74, not married, in poor health, fall into the low- to middle-income brackets, and have less than a high school degree are more likely to be covered through a public program, more likely to be uninsured for prescription medicine outlays, and less likely to have private prescription drug coverage. The paper concludes that there is cause for considerable concern for low income citizens who have significant prescription drug outlays, and, therefore, the greatest need because their prescription drug costs may not be covered beyond a certain limit unless they reach catastrophic proportions. This continues to raise equity in access concerns among elderly patients.

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The determinants of the demand for private health insurance under Medicare

Cited by 77 publications

References 8 publications

Estimating rural households? willingness to pay for health insurance

Estimating rural households? willingness to pay for health insurance

Distributional impact of recent changes in private health insurance policies

Prescription drug coverage among elderly and disabled Americans: can Medicare—Part D reduce inequities in access?

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