“What discourages adults’ use of insulin-infusion pumps in Japan, habit or financial aid?”

In Japan, adult patients are reluctant to insulin-infusion pumps. This paper determines whether this is due to the controversial policy that the government stops financial aids for the patients at the age of twenty, or this is simply because adult patients are accustomed to multiple daily injections. With the Japan IDDM Network, we conduct an original questionnaire survey over the Internet on type 1 diabetes patients and their families in Japan. Using survey data, we estimate the pump’s demand function and evaluate the discontinuity of financial aids. We find that a unit increase in the duration year of diabetes causes a 0.69% decrease in pump demand. A unit increase in the relative “price” of the pumps decreases the demand for the pump by 32.4% for adults, while it decreases the demand by 14.4% for children. Therefore, not habits but financial aids are the main reason for adults to avoid the pumps. Additionally, financial aids for adults are more effective than for children. Government aids for patients over 20 years old would be effective for them to use pumps. Finally, men and single people need “recommendation” from their families or physicians.