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Demand Patterns for Treatment Insurance in Norway

Author

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  • Karl Ove Aarbu

Abstract

In Scandinavia, the provision of health care services has been, almost entirely, the responsibility of the public health care system. However, in the last five to seven years there has been remarkable growth in the private health care market. These health care services are obtained normally through insurance contracts. In this paper, I seek explanations for this phenomenon, using data from Norway. First, using available market data, I document that the market for private treatment insurance—often labelled as “jump the treatment queue insurance”—is growing rapidly. Thereafter, I present a theoretical model that identifies primary drivers for individual demand for treatment insurance. The third step is to analyse a unique survey data set that is combined with aggregate county data on treatment queues. The overall results indicate that public waiting lists affect the demand for privately bought insurance, while employer-provided insurance does not seem to be affected. I find strong preference for this type of insurance among smokers and the self-employed. Moreover, income is an important determinant of insurance demand.

Suggested Citation

  • Karl Ove Aarbu, 2010. "Demand Patterns for Treatment Insurance in Norway," CESifo Working Paper Series 3021, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_3021
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Daniele Fabbri & Chiara Monfardini, 2016. "Opt Out or Top Up? Voluntary Health Care Insurance and the Public vs. Private Substitution," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 78(1), pages 75-93, February.
    2. Astrid Kiil, 2012. "Does employment-based private health insurance increase the use of covered health care services? A matching estimator approach," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 1-38, March.
    3. Tynkkynen, Liina-Kaisa & Alexandersen, Nina & Kaarbøe, Oddvar & Anell, Anders & Lehto, Juhani & Vrangbӕk, Karsten, 2018. "Development of voluntary private health insurance in Nordic countries – An exploratory study on country-specific contextual factors," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(5), pages 485-492.
    4. Gravelle, Hugh & Schroyen, Fred, 2016. "Optimal hospital payment rules under rationing by random waiting," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 8/2016, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.
    5. Kullberg, Linn & Blomqvist, Paula & Winblad, Ulrika, 2019. "Health insurance for the healthy? Voluntary health insurance in Sweden," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(8), pages 737-746.
    6. Lavaste, Konsta, 2023. "Private health insurance in the universal public healthcare system: The role of healthcare provision in Finland," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H51 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Health
    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

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