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Long-term care insurance: Does experience matter?

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  • Coe, Norma B.
  • Skira, Meghan M.
  • Van Houtven, Courtney Harold

Abstract

We examine whether long-term care (LTC) experience helps explain the low demand for long-term care insurance (LTCI). We test if expectations about future informal care receipt, expectations about inheritance receipt, and LTCI purchase decisions vary between individuals whose parents or in-laws have used LTC versus those who have not. We find parental use of a nursing home decreases expectations that one's children will provide informal care, consistent with the demonstration effect. Nursing home use by in-laws does not have the same impact, suggesting that individuals are responding to information gained about their own aging trajectory. Nursing home use by either a parent or in-law increases LTCI purchase probability by 0.8 percentage points, with no significant difference in response between parents’ and in-laws’ use. The estimated increase in purchase probability from experience with LTC is about half the previously estimated increase from tax policy-induced price decreases.

Suggested Citation

  • Coe, Norma B. & Skira, Meghan M. & Van Houtven, Courtney Harold, 2015. "Long-term care insurance: Does experience matter?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 122-131.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jhecon:v:40:y:2015:i:c:p:122-131
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2015.01.001
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    6. de Bresser, Jochem & Knoef, Marike & van Ooijen, Raun, 2021. "Preferences for In-Kind and In-Cash Home Care Insurance," Discussion Paper 2021-033, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    7. Lambregts, Timo R. & Schut, Frederik T., 2020. "Displaced, disliked and misunderstood: A systematic review of the reasons for low uptake of long-term care insurance and life annuities," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 17(C).
    8. de Bresser, Jochem & Knoef, Marike & van Ooijen, Raun, 2021. "Preferences for In-Kind and In-Cash Home Care Insurance," Other publications TiSEM fca83bd4-09cc-4072-81c6-0, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    9. van Ooijen, Raun & de Bresser, Jochem & Knoef, Marike, 2019. "Preferences for Long-Term Care Services: Bequests, Informal Care and Health Expectations," Other publications TiSEM a60a8e39-57eb-48e4-89b4-e, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    10. Martin Eling & Omid Ghavibazoo, 2019. "Research on long-term care insurance: status quo and directions for future research," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 44(2), pages 303-356, April.
    11. Hudomiet, Péter & Hurd, Michael D. & Rohwedder, Susann, 2019. "The relationship between lifetime out-of-pocket medical expenditures, dementia, and socioeconomic status in the U.S," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 14(C).
    12. Ugarte Montero, Andrey & Wagner, Joël, 2023. "On potential information asymmetries in long-term care insurance: A simulation study using data from Switzerland," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 230-241.
    13. Katerina Gousia, 2023. "Cognitive abilities and long-term care insurance: evidence from European data," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 48(1), pages 68-101, January.
    14. Akaichi, Faical & Costa-Font, Joan & Frank, Richard, 2020. "Uninsured by Choice? A choice experiment on long term care insurance," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 422-434.
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    16. Shai, Ori, 2022. "Out of time? The effect of an infrequent traumatic event on individuals’ time and risk preferences, beliefs, and insurance purchasing," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    G22; D81; J14; Long-term care; Insurance; Informal care; Expectations; Behavioral economics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G22 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Insurance; Insurance Companies; Actuarial Studies
    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination

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