Dataset Information

Healthcare consumption after a change in health insurance coverage: a French quasi-natural experiment.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Compared with the number of studies performed in the United States, few studies have been conducted on the link between health insurance and healthcare consumption in Europe, likely because most European countries have compulsory national health insurance (NHI) or a national health service (NHS). Recently, a major French private insurer, offering voluntary complementary coverage in addition to the compulsory NHI, replaced its single standard package with a range of offers from basic coverage (BC) to extended coverage (EC), providing a quasi-natural experiment to test theoretical assumptions about consumption patterns.

Methods

Reimbursement claim data from 85,541 insurees were analysed from 2009 to 2018. Insurees who opted for EC were matched to those still covered by BC with similar characteristics. Difference-in-differences (DiD) models were used to compare both the monetary value and physical quantities of healthcare consumption before and after the change in coverage.

Results

As expected, the DiD models revealed a strongly significant, though transitory (mainly during the first year), increase after the change in coverage for EC insurees, particularly for costly care such as dental prostheses and spectacles. Surprisingly, consumption seemed to precede the change in coverage, suggesting that one possible determinant of opting for more coverage may be previous unplanned expenses.

Conclusion

Both catching-up behaviour and moral hazard are likely to play a role in the observed increase in healthcare consumption.

SUBMITTER: Sevilla-Dedieu C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7291705 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Healthcare consumption after a change in health insurance coverage: a French quasi-natural experiment.

Sevilla-Dedieu Christine C Billaudeau Nathalie N Paraponaris Alain A

Health economics review 20200611 1

<h4>Background</h4>Compared with the number of studies performed in the United States, few studies have been conducted on the link between health insurance and healthcare consumption in Europe, likely because most European countries have compulsory national health insurance (NHI) or a national health service (NHS). Recently, a major French private insurer, offering voluntary complementary coverage in addition to the compulsory NHI, replaced its single standard package with a range of offers from ...[more]

PMID: 32529529

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Dataset Information

Healthcare consumption after a change in health insurance coverage: a French quasi-natural experiment.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Publications

Healthcare consumption after a change in health insurance coverage: a French quasi-natural experiment.

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