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Overweight and Obesity and the Demand for Primary Physician Care

Author

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  • Datta Gupta, Nabanita

    (Aarhus University)

  • Greve, Jane

    (VIVE - The Danish Centre for Social Science Research)

Abstract

The standard economic model for the demand for health care predicts that unhealthy behaviour such as being overweight or obese should increase the demand for medical care, particularly as clinical studies link obesity to a number of serious diseases. In this paper, we investigate whether overweight or obese individuals demand more medical care than normal weight individuals by estimating a finite mixture model which splits the population into frequent and non-frequent users of primary physician (GP) services according to the individual's latent health status. Based on a sample of wage-earners aged 25-60 years drawn from the National Health Interview (NHI) survey 2000 and merged to Danish register data, we compare differences in the impact of being overweight and obese relative to being normal weight on the demand for primary physician care. Estimated bodyweight effects vary across latent classes and show that being obese or overweight does not increase the demand for primary physician care among infrequent users but does so among frequent users.

Suggested Citation

  • Datta Gupta, Nabanita & Greve, Jane, 2009. "Overweight and Obesity and the Demand for Primary Physician Care," IZA Discussion Papers 4098, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4098
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Paulos Teckle & Matt Sutton, 2008. "How Do the Determinants of Demand for GP Visits Respond to Higher Supply? An Analysis of Grouped Counts," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 144(III), pages 495-513, September.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    demand for primary physician care; obesity; overweight;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

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