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Supplementary Private Health Insurance in Selected Countries: Lessons for EU Governments?

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  • Sebastian Gechert

Abstract

A famous idea to maintain affordable health expenditures is to cut back statutory health insurance (SHI) to a basic insurance and to introduce supplementary private health insurance (PHI), permitted to cover the remaining benefits and to apply managed care mechanisms. The measure is supposed to lower public health expenditures and to enhance cost efficiency and quality of service. To test these reasonings, the paper draws empirical evidence from the health systems of Australia, Canada and Switzerland. PHI fails to meet the claims in these countries, since it performs worse than SHI concerning cost development and cannot be expected to improve quality. Cream skimming and adverse selection arise instead. Therefore, regulations and incentives are necessary, but they might counteract the aim of lowering public health expenditures.

Suggested Citation

  • Sebastian Gechert, 2009. "Supplementary Private Health Insurance in Selected Countries: Lessons for EU Governments?," CESifo Working Paper Series 2739, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_2739
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    Cited by:

    1. Yu‐Fu Chen & Michael Funke, 2010. "Booms, Recessions And Financial Turmoil: A Fresh Look At Investment Decisions Under Cyclical Uncertainty," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 57(3), pages 290-317, July.
    2. Kumpmann, Ingmar, 2009. "Monopolistic Competition and Costs in the Health Care Sector," IWH Discussion Papers 17/2009, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    3. Mazzanti, Giovanni Maria & Fiorentini, Gianluca, 2012. "Proposte per una revisione del finanziamento e dell’offerta dei servizi odontoiatrici in Italia. L’intervento pubblico e i fondi integrativi," AICCON Working Papers 100-2012, Associazione Italiana per la Cultura della Cooperazione e del Non Profit.
    4. Alessandro Petretto, 2013. "On the Fuzzy Boundaries between Public and Private in Health-Care Organization and Funding Systems," Rivista di Politica Economica, SIPI Spa, issue 1, pages 327-370, January-M.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    private health insurance; supplementary; country survey;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G22 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Insurance; Insurance Companies; Actuarial Studies
    • H51 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Health
    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • L10 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - General

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