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The Economics of Hospital Trips and Health Care Reform

Author

Listed:
  • Million, Andreas

    (affiliation not available)

  • Rotte, Ralph

    (RWTH Aachen University)

  • Zimmermann, Klaus F.

    (University of Bonn)

Abstract

One cornerstone of current attempts to reform the German public health care system by introducing private insurance schemes is the assumption that economic incentives play an important role in individual decision-making about using medical help. This hypothesis is examined for the case of demand for hospital care which covers the largest part of public insurance expenditures. The paper applies various methods for count data analysis of the frequency of hospital trips. Contrary to comparative studies for other countries, we find that there is no significant impact of insurance schemes on hospitalization. Therefore, the current efforts to reduce expenditures by relying on consumer behavior are unlikely to work.

Suggested Citation

  • Million, Andreas & Rotte, Ralph & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 1998. "The Economics of Hospital Trips and Health Care Reform," IZA Discussion Papers 22, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp22
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    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp22.pdf
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    health care reform; hospitalization; hospital cost inflation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • 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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