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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.

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  • 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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    Cited by:

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    4. Brown, Jessica H., 2023. "The impact of a long-term care information campaign on insurance coverage," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    5. de Bresser, Jochem & Knoef, Marike & van Ooijen, Raun, 2022. "Preferences for in-kind and in-cash home care insurance," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    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.
    15. Martin Boyer & Franca Glenzer, 2016. "Pensions, annuities, and long-term care insurance: On the impact of risk screening," Cahiers de recherche 1603, Chaire de recherche Industrielle Alliance sur les enjeux économiques des changements démographiques.
    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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