RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA 90401, United States.
J Health Econ. 2012 Dec;31(6):824-41. doi: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2012.07.002. Epub 2012 Jul 21.
Policymakers in countries around the world are faced with rising health care costs and are debating ways to reform health care to reduce expenditures. Estimates of price elasticity of expenditure are a key component for predicting expenditures under alternative policies. Using unique individual-level data compiled from administrative records from the Chilean private health insurance market, I estimate the price elasticity of expenditures across a variety of health care services. I find elasticities that range between zero for the most acute service (appendectomy) and -2.08 for the most elective (psychologist visit). Moreover, the results show that at least one third of the elasticity is explained by the number of visits; the rest is explained by the intensity of each visit. Finally, I find that high-income individuals are five times more price sensitive than low-income individuals and that older individuals are less price-sensitive than young individuals.
各国政策制定者面临医疗保健费用不断上涨的问题，正在探讨改革医疗保健以减少支出的方法。支出价格弹性的估计是预测替代政策下支出的关键组成部分。我使用从智利私人医疗保险市场的行政记录中编制的独特个人层面数据，估算了各种医疗服务的支出价格弹性。我发现，最急性服务（阑尾切除术）的弹性为零，最选择性服务（心理咨询师就诊）的弹性为-2.08。此外，结果表明，至少有三分之一的弹性可以由就诊次数来解释；其余的则由每次就诊的强度来解释。最后，我发现高收入个体比低收入个体对价格更敏感，而老年人比年轻人对价格不敏感。
