This paper studies the determinants of the willingness to pay (WTP) for long term care (LTC) coverage provided through either a public or a private insurance program. Two insurance services are considered, a first one compulsory and financed out through general taxes, another one purchased on a voluntary base and paid through an insurance premium. Data are taken from a survey on a sample of households of the Italian region Emilia Romagna, and WTP is elicited through open-ended contingent valuation questions. We model individual choice as a two stage process, with respondents first establishing their interest for the service, then stating how much they are willing to pay. Auxiliary information allows us to separate zeros arising from standard corner solutions from those generated by disinterest. We test for independence of the interest” process by estimating Heckman’s sample selection models both for the public and private case. We show that two sequential processes guide the observed WTP and that their separate identification is crucial for a clear understanding of individual choices. Interest and WTP are influenced by different variables, whereas the same variables influence the two choices in different ways. Moreover, we are able to investigate the differences in stated WTP between public and private provision. The kind of information provided is useful for designing reforms that more closely match collective preferences in a particularly delicate area such as elderly care financing.
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Paper provided by Centre for North South Economic Research, University of Cagliari and Sassari, Sardinia in its series Working Paper CRENoS with number
200408.
Find related papers by JEL classification: C34 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Truncated and Censored Models H40 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - General I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
Norton, Edward C., 2000.
"Long-term care,"
Handbook of Health Economics,
in: A. J. Culyer & J. P. Newhouse (ed.), Handbook of Health Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 17, pages 955-994
Elsevier.
[Downloadable!] (restricted)
Jones, Andrew M., 2000.
"Health econometrics,"
Handbook of Health Economics,
in: A. J. Culyer & J. P. Newhouse (ed.), Handbook of Health Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 6, pages 265-344
Elsevier.
[Downloadable!] (restricted)
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