Expenditure response to health insurance policies: Evidence from kinks in rural China

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Lu, Yi; Shi, Julie; Yang, Wanyu
• 署名单位: Tsinghua University; Peking University; Dongbei University of Finance & Economics
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2019.104049
• 发表日期: 2019
• 关键词: Bunching; health care; health insurance; Optimization friction

摘要

This paper utilizes administrative data to analyze expenditure responses to the health insurance policy in rural China, and clear visual evidence of bunching is observed at the kink point. A static response model with optimization frictions estimates that a complete elimination of the reimbursement would cause the total expenditure per visit to decrease by 34.5%, and approximately one-third of the studied population makes decisions with errors. Heterogeneous expenditure responses and optimization frictions are observed across demographic groups. Cost-benefit and counterfactual analyses indicate that the current policy generates the greatest welfare gains. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.