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Hips and hearts: the variation in incentive effects of insurance across hospital procedures

Author

Listed:
  • Denise Doiron

    (School of Economics, the University of New South Wales)

  • Denzil G Fiebig

    (School of Economics, the University of New South Wales)

  • Agne Suziedelyte

    (School of Economics, the University of New South Wales)

Abstract

The separate identification of effects due to incentives, selection and preference heterogeneity in insurance markets is the topic of much debate. In this paper, we investigate the presence and variation in moral hazard across health care procedures. The key motivating hypothesis is the expectation of larger causal effects in the case of more discretionary procedures. The empirical approach relies on an extremely rich and extensive dataset constructed by linking survey data to administrative data for hospital medical records. Using this approach we are able to provide credible evidence of large moral hazard effects but for elective surgeries only.

Suggested Citation

  • Denise Doiron & Denzil G Fiebig & Agne Suziedelyte, 2013. "Hips and hearts: the variation in incentive effects of insurance across hospital procedures," Discussion Papers 2013-14, School of Economics, The University of New South Wales.
    • Handle: RePEc:swe:wpaper:2013-14
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    File URL: http://research.economics.unsw.edu.au/RePEc/papers/2013-14.pdf
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Nathan Kettlewell, 2019. "Utilization and Selection in an Ancillaries Health Insurance Market," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 86(4), pages 989-1017, December.
    2. Papanicolas, Irene & McGuire, Alistair, 2015. "Do financial incentives trump clinical guidance? Hip Replacement in England and Scotland," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 25-36.
    3. Denise Doiron & Nathan Kettlewell, 2020. "Family formation and the demand for health insurance," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(4), pages 523-533, April.
    4. Ha Trong Nguyen & Huong Thu Le & Luke Connelly & Francis Mitrou, 2023. "Accuracy of self‐reported private health insurance coverage," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(12), pages 2709-2729, December.
    5. Denise Doiron & Nathan Kettlewell, 2018. "The Effect of Health Insurance on the Substitution between Public and Private Hospital Care," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 94(305), pages 135-154, June.
    6. Nathan Kettlewell & Yuting Zhang, 2024. "Age penalties and take‐up of private health insurance," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(4), pages 636-651, April.
    7. Lan Nguyen & Andrew C. Worthington, 2023. "Moral hazard in Australian private health insurance: the case of dental care services and extras cover," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 48(1), pages 157-176, January.
    8. Chunzhou Mu & Jane Hall, 2023. "Marital status and hospital use in older adults," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(2), pages 185-213, June.
    9. Judith Liu & Yuting Zhang, 2023. "Elderly responses to private health insurance incentives: Evidence from Australia," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(12), pages 2730-2744, December.
    10. Denzil G. Fiebig, 2017. "Big Data: Will It Improve Patient-Centered Care?," The Patient: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research, Springer;International Academy of Health Preference Research, vol. 10(2), pages 133-139, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    health insurance; asymmetric information; moral hazard;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets
    • I13 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Insurance, Public and Private

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