In: Economics
Does insurance increase or decrease the demand for medical care? Does this represent a problem for any parties involved in health care? Why? Research the current trend of insurance since the inception of the Affordable Care Act. How might the change in policy effect the demand for healthcare moving forward?
We estimate the causal impact
of having health insurance on healthcare expenditures. We take
advantage of a unique quasi-experimental setup in which deductibles
and co-payments were zero in a managed care plan and nonzero in
regular insurance, until a policy change forced all individuals
with an active plan to cover a minimum amount of their expenses.
Using panel data and a nonlinear difference-in-differences
strategy, we find a demand elasticity of about -0.14 comparing full
insurance with the cost-sharing model and a significant upward
shift in the likelihood to generate costs.