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The impact of standardized disease-specific healthcare coverage

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  • Menares, Felipe
  • Muñoz, Pablo

Abstract

We study the impact of a healthcare reform that standardized procedures and timely coverage of a set of diseases. Using Chile’s universe of death records and a difference-in-differences research design, we show that mortality from the diseases covered by this reform decreased by 4.4% on average. Disease-specific shocks or a resource shift from non-covered to covered diseases do not explain this effect. Evidence from polytraumatized inpatients suggests that the reform equalized utilization rates as it reduced the dispersion of risk-adjusted surgery rates and spending across hospitals.

Suggested Citation

  • Menares, Felipe & Muñoz, Pablo, 2025. "The impact of standardized disease-specific healthcare coverage," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 242(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:242:y:2025:i:c:s0047272725000106
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2025.105312
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Insurance; Mortality; Health policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I13 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Insurance, Public and Private
    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

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