IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp13767.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Transfer Payment Systems and Financial Distress: Insights from Health Insurance Premium Subsidies

Author

Listed:
  • Schmid, Christian P. R.

    (CSS Institute for Empirical Health Economics)

  • Schreiner, Nicolas

    (University of Basel)

  • Stutzer, Alois

    (University of Basel)

Abstract

How should payment systems of means-tested benefits be designed to improve the financial situation of needy recipients most effectively? We study this question in the context of mandatory health insurance in Switzerland, where recipients initially received either a cash transfer or subsidized insurance premiums (a form of in-kind transfer). A federal reform in 2014 forced cantons (i.e. states) to universally switch to in-kind provision. We exploit this setting based on a difference-in-differences design, analyzing rich individual-level accounting data and applying a machine learning approach to identify cash recipients prior to the reform. We find that switching from cash to in-kind transfers reduces the likelihood of late premiums payments by about 20% and of government debt collection for long-term missed payments by approximately 16%. There is no evidence for a negative spillover effect on the timely payment of the non-subsidized coinsurance bills for health services after the regime change.

Suggested Citation

  • Schmid, Christian P. R. & Schreiner, Nicolas & Stutzer, Alois, 2020. "Transfer Payment Systems and Financial Distress: Insights from Health Insurance Premium Subsidies," IZA Discussion Papers 13767, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13767
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp13767.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Francesco Decarolis, 2015. "Medicare Part D: Are Insurers Gaming the Low Income Subsidy Design?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(4), pages 1547-1580, April.
    2. Matthew Rabin & Ted O'Donoghue, 1999. "Doing It Now or Later," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(1), pages 103-124, March.
    3. Hidrobo, Melissa & Hoddinott, John & Peterman, Amber & Margolies, Amy & Moreira, Vanessa, 2014. "Cash, food, or vouchers? Evidence from a randomized experiment in northern Ecuador," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 144-156.
    4. Abhijit Banerjee & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2010. "The Shape of Temptation: Implications for the Economic Lives of the Poor," Working Papers id:2484, eSocialSciences.
    5. Leandro S. Carvalho & Stephan Meier & Stephanie W. Wang, 2016. "Poverty and Economic Decision-Making: Evidence from Changes in Financial Resources at Payday," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(2), pages 260-284, February.
    6. Annamaria Lusardi & Olivia S. Mitchell, 2014. "The Economic Importance of Financial Literacy: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 52(1), pages 5-44, March.
    7. Sonia Jaffe & Mark Shepard, 2020. "Price-Linked Subsidies and Imperfect Competition in Health Insurance," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 12(3), pages 279-311, August.
    8. Beatty, Timothy K.M. & Blow, Laura & Crossley, Thomas F. & O'Dea, Cormac, 2014. "Cash by any other name? Evidence on labeling from the UK Winter Fuel Payment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 86-96.
    9. Jesse M. Cunha, 2014. "Testing Paternalism: Cash versus In-Kind Transfers," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 6(2), pages 195-230, April.
    10. C. Fritz Foley, 2011. "Welfare Payments and Crime," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(1), pages 97-112, February.
    11. Melissa Hidrobo & Amber Peterman & Lori Heise, 2016. "The Effect of Cash, Vouchers, and Food Transfers on Intimate Partner Violence: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Northern Ecuador," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 8(3), pages 284-303, July.
    12. Ethan M. J. Lieber & Lee M. Lockwood, 2019. "Targeting with In-Kind Transfers: Evidence from Medicaid Home Care," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(4), pages 1461-1485, April.
    13. Alejandro Ponce & Enrique Seira & Guillermo Zamarripa, 2017. "Borrowing on the Wrong Credit Card? Evidence from Mexico," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(4), pages 1335-1361, April.
    14. Janet Currie & Firouz Gahvari, 2008. "Transfers in Cash and In-Kind: Theory Meets the Data," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 46(2), pages 333-383, June.
    15. John Beshears & James J. Choi & David Laibson & Brigitte C. Madrian, 2018. "Behavioral Household Finance," NBER Working Papers 24854, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Gerritzen, Berit C. & Martínez, Isabel Z. & Ramsden, Alma, 2014. "Cantonal Differences in Health Care Premium Subsidies in Switzerland," Economics Working Paper Series 1420, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    17. Kaufmann, Cornel & Schmid, Christian & Boes, Stefan, 2017. "Health insurance subsidies and deductible choice: Evidence from regional variation in subsidy schemes," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 262-273.
    18. Peter Kooreman, 2000. "The Labeling Effect of a Child Benefit System," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(3), pages 571-583, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Douven, Rudy & Kauer, Lukas, 2023. "Falling ill raises the health insurer's administration bill," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 324(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lagomarsino, Bruno Cardinale & Rossi, Martin A., 2024. "JUE insight: The unintended effect of Argentina's subsidized homeownership lottery program on intimate partner violence," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    2. Vaidya, Shalvaree, 2021. "The impact of premium subsidies on health plan choices in Switzerland: Who responds to the incentives set by in-kind as opposed to cash transfers?," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(6), pages 675-684.
    3. Rema Hanna & Benjamin A Olken & Elan Satriawan & Sudarno Sumarto & Abhijit Banerjee, "undated". "Pangan versus Kupon Makanan: Bukti dari Eksperimen Berskala Besar di Indonesia," Working Papers 3537, Publications Department.
    4. Kaufmann, Cornel & Schmid, Christian & Boes, Stefan, 2017. "Health insurance subsidies and deductible choice: Evidence from regional variation in subsidy schemes," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 262-273.
    5. Griffith, Rachel & von Hinke, Stephanie & Smith, Sarah, 2018. "Getting a healthy start: The effectiveness of targeted benefits for improving dietary choices," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 176-187.
    6. Delis, Manthos & Galariotis, Emilios & Monne, Jerome, 2021. "Economic condition and financial cognition," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    7. Maria Polyakova & Stephen P. Ryan, 2019. "Subsidy Targeting with Market Power," NBER Working Papers 26367, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Abhijit Banerjee & Rema Hanna & Benjamin A Olken & Elan Satriawan & Sudarno Sumarto, "undated". "Food vs. Food Stamps: Evidence from an At-Scale Experiment in Indonesia," Working Papers 2373, Publications Department.
    9. Diego Jimenez-Hernandez & Enrique Seira, 2022. "Should the government sell you goods? Evidence from the milk market in Mexico," Working Paper Series WP 2023-19, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    10. Laureti, Carolina & Szafarz, Ariane, 2023. "Banking regulation and costless commitment contracts for time-inconsistent agents," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    11. Francisco Gomes & Michael Haliassos & Tarun Ramadorai, 2021. "Household Finance," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 59(3), pages 919-1000, September.
    12. Gilligan, Daniel & Hidrobo, Melissa & Hoddinott, John & Roy, Shalini & Schwab, Benjamin, 2014. "Much ado about modalities: Multicountry experiments on the effects of cash and food transfers on consumption patterns," 2014 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2014, Minneapolis, Minnesota 171159, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    13. World Bank Group, 2016. "Cash Transfers in Humanitarian Contexts," World Bank Publications - Reports 24699, The World Bank Group.
    14. Ubfal, Diego, 2016. "How general are time preferences? Eliciting good-specific discount rates," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 150-170.
    15. Angus Holford, 2015. "The labour supply effect of Education Maintenance Allowance and its implications for parental altruism," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 531-568, September.
    16. Samuel Berlinski & Norbert Schady, 2015. "Daycare Services: It’s All about Quality," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Samuel Berlinski & Norbert Schady (ed.), The Early Years, chapter 4, pages 91-119, Palgrave Macmillan.
    17. Gentilini,Ugo, 2016. "The revival of the"cash versus food"debate : new evidence for an old quandary ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7584, The World Bank.
    18. Siu, Jade & Sterck, Olivier & Rodgers, Cory, 2023. "The freedom to choose: Theory and quasi-experimental evidence on cash transfer restrictions," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    19. Miller, Stephen M. & Neanidis, Kyriakos C., 2015. "Demographic transition and economic welfare: The role of in-cash and in-kind transfers," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 84-92.
    20. Batista, Catia & Silverman, Dan & Yang, Dean, 2015. "Directed giving: Evidence from an inter-household transfer experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 2-21.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    debt collection; health insurance; transfers; cash subsidies; in-kind transfers; financial distress;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • G52 - Financial Economics - - Household Finance - - - Insurance
    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies
    • I13 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Insurance, Public and Private

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13767. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.