Cramer Anne Theisen, Jensen Gail A
Institute of Gerontology, Wayne State University, 87 East Ferry Street, Detroit, MI 48202, USA.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2006 Jul;61(4):S185-93. doi: 10.1093/geronb/61.4.s185.
The objective of this article was to assess the determinants of an individual's decision to purchase long-term-care (LTC) insurance. This article focuses on the decision to purchase a new policy as opposed to renewing an existing policy. This study gave special consideration to the role of policy price, the savings associated with buying a policy now as opposed to later, the purchaser's education, and the purchaser's income.
Using data from the 2002 Health and Retirement Survey, we estimated logistic regressions to model consumer decisions to purchase LTC insurance. We explored several alternative measures of the price of a policy.
Price was a significant determinant in decisions to purchase coverage. The demand for coverage, however, was price inelastic, with elasticities ranging from -0.23 to -0.87, depending on the specification of the model. The education level and income of the purchaser were also important.
This analysis provides the first estimates of price elasticity of demand for LTC insurance. The finding that demand is very price inelastic suggests that state initiatives that effectively subsidize premiums as a way of stimulating purchases are likely to meet with very limited success in the present environment.
本文的目的是评估个人购买长期护理（LTC）保险决策的决定因素。本文关注的是购买新保单的决策，而非续保现有保单。本研究特别考虑了保单价格的作用、现在购买保单与以后购买相比所节省的费用、购买者的教育程度以及购买者的收入。
利用2002年健康与退休调查的数据，我们估计了逻辑回归模型，以模拟消费者购买LTC保险的决策。我们探索了保单价格的几种替代衡量方法。
价格是购买保险范围决策中的一个重要决定因素。然而，保险范围的需求对价格缺乏弹性，弹性范围从-0.23到-0.87，具体取决于模型的设定。购买者的教育水平和收入也很重要。
该分析首次对LTC保险的需求价格弹性进行了估计。需求对价格非常缺乏弹性这一发现表明，在当前环境下，作为刺激购买的一种方式而有效补贴保费的州举措可能只会取得非常有限的成功。
