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Co-payments and the demand for pharmaceuticals: Evidence from Italy

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  • Fiorio, Carlo V.
  • Siciliani, Luigi

Abstract

This study exploits a natural experiment in Italy to estimate how the demand for pharmaceuticals responds to variations in co-payment levels. After a period where co-payments were set to zero by a national law, the decision over co-payments was devolved to the Italian regions. While some regions re-introduced the co-payment, others did not. Using a difference-in-difference approach on regional monthly data for years 2001 and 2003, we find that an increase in the co-payment by one Euro reduces the per capita number of prescriptions by 4% and per capita public pharmaceutical expenditure by 3.4%. We also find evidence that when in 2006 some regions reduced (but not removed) the co-payment, a reduction in the co-payment by one Euro increased the per capita number of prescriptions by 3.4%, and per capita public pharmaceutical expenditure by 4.9%.

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Bibliographic Info

Article provided by Elsevier in its journal Economic Modelling.

Volume (Year): 27 (2010)
Issue (Month): 4 (July)
Pages: 835-841

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Handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:27:y:2010:i:4:p:835-841

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Web page: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/30411

Related research

Keywords: Prescriptions Pharmaceutical expenditure Co-payments Moral hazard;

References

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Cited by:
  1. M. Filippini & G. Masiero, 2012. "An empirical analysis of habit and addiction to antibiotics," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 42(2), pages 471-486, April.
  2. Laura González & Giuliano Masiero, 2011. "Disentangling spillover effects of antibiotic consumption: a spatial panel approach," Quaderni della facoltà di Scienze economiche dell'Università di Lugano 1106, USI Università della Svizzera italiana.

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