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Industry regulation, fund characteristics, and the efficiency of Australian private health insurers

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  • Lan Nguyen
  • Andrew C. Worthington

Abstract

We examine the technical and scale efficiency of 30 Australian private health insurers during the period 2010–2017 using data envelopment analysis (DEA). We calculate industry pure technical efficiency of 91.6 percent and scale efficiency of 95.1 percent. We also employ a two‐stage DEA truncated bootstrapped regression to model efficiency on fund and policy factors. The results show that premium restrictions and risk equalisation policies, and fund characteristics like size, but not for‐profit/not‐for‐profit status, market share and leverage, exert significant effects. The findings suggest substantial scope for regulatory reform and structural change in the Australian private health insurance industry as a means of improving its efficiency.

Suggested Citation

  • Lan Nguyen & Andrew C. Worthington, 2021. "Industry regulation, fund characteristics, and the efficiency of Australian private health insurers," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(1), pages 781-801, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:acctfi:v:61:y:2021:i:1:p:781-801
    DOI: 10.1111/acfi.12593
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    Cited by:

    1. Shoaib Alam Siddiqui, 2022. "How efficient is Indian health insurance sector: An SBM‐DEA study," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(4), pages 950-962, June.
    2. Andrew C. Worthington & Lan Nguyen, 2024. "COVID‐19 and Efficiency, Technology and Productivity Change in Australian Private Health Insurance Funds," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 43(2), pages 169-183, June.
    3. Zhang, Tidong & Cao, Jingsheng, 2023. "Impact of regulatory policy adjustments on insurance company costs and cost efficiency," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PD).
    4. Davide Lanfranchi & Laura Grassi, 2021. "Translating technological innovation into efficiency: the case of US public P&C insurance companies," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 11(4), pages 565-585, December.

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