| 来源类型 | Working Paper |
| 规范类型 | 报告 |
| DOI | 10.3386/w23846 |
| 来源ID | Working Paper 23846 |
| Premium Levels and Demand Response in Health Insurance: Relative Thinking and Zero-Price Effects | |
| Rudy Douven; Ron van der Heijden; Thomas McGuire; Frederik T. Schut | |
| 发表日期 | 2017-09-25 |
| 出版年 | 2017 |
| 语种 | 英语 |
| 摘要 | In health care systems with a competitive health insurance market, governments or other sponsors (e.g. employers) often subsidize premiums to encourage enrolment. These subsidies are typically independent of plan choice leaving the absolute premium differences in place so as not to distort consumer choice of plan. Such subsidies do, however, change the relative premium differences across plans, which, according to theories from behavioral economics, can affect choice. Consumers might be sensitive to differences relative to a reference premium (“relative thinking”). Furthermore, consumers might be particularly sensitive to a reference premium of zero (“zero-price effect”), a relevant range for some subsidized health insurance markets. This paper tests these ideas with two sources of evidence. We argue that observed equilibria in Germany and the U.S. Medicare Advantage markets are consistent with a powerful zero-price effect, resulting in an equilibrium focal pricing at zero. This contrasts with the Netherlands where equilibrium premiums are well above zero. In an empirical test using hypothetical questions in a web-based survey in these three countries, we also find evidence for both a relative thinking and a zero-price effect in the demand for health insurance. Our findings imply that well-designed subsidies can leverage relative thinking to increase demand elasticity for health plans. Creation of a powerful reference price (e.g., at zero), however, risks subverting price competition. |
| 主题 | Health, Education, and Welfare ; Health |
| URL | https://www.nber.org/papers/w23846 |
| 来源智库 | National Bureau of Economic Research (United States) |
| 引用统计 | |
| 资源类型 | 智库出版物 |
| 条目标识符 | http://119.78.100.153/handle/2XGU8XDN/581519 |
| 推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714 | Rudy Douven,Ron van der Heijden,Thomas McGuire,et al. Premium Levels and Demand Response in Health Insurance: Relative Thinking and Zero-Price Effects. 2017. |
| 条目包含的文件 | ||||||
| 文件名称/大小 | 资源类型 | 版本类型 | 开放类型 | 使用许可 | ||
| w23846.pdf（655KB） | 智库出版物 | 限制开放 | CC BY-NC-SA | 浏览 | ||
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