IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/pubeco/v210y2022ics0047272722000627.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The response to dynamic incentives in insurance contracts with a deductible: Evidence from a differences-in-regression-discontinuities design

Author

Listed:
  • Klein, Tobias J.
  • Salm, Martin
  • Upadhyay, Suraj

Abstract

We develop a new approach to quantify how patients respond to dynamic incentives in health insurance contracts with a deductible. Our approach exploits two sources of variation in a differences-in-regression-discontinuities design: deductible contracts reset at the beginning of the year, and cost-sharing limits change over the years. Using rich claims-level data from a large Dutch health insurer we find that individuals are forward-looking. Changing dynamic incentives by increasing the deductible by €100 leads to a reduction in healthcare spending of around 3% on the first days of the year and 6% at the annual level. We find that the response to dynamic incentives is an important part of the overall effect of cost-sharing schemes on healthcare expenditures—much more so than what the previous literature has suggested.

Suggested Citation

  • Klein, Tobias J. & Salm, Martin & Upadhyay, Suraj, 2022. "The response to dynamic incentives in insurance contracts with a deductible: Evidence from a differences-in-regression-discontinuities design," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:210:y:2022:i:c:s0047272722000627
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2022.104660
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047272722000627
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2022.104660?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Aviva Aron-Dine & Liran Einav & Amy Finkelstein & Mark Cullen, 2015. "Moral Hazard in Health Insurance: Do Dynamic Incentives Matter?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 97(4), pages 725-741, October.
    2. Michael Gerfin & Boris Kaiser & Christian Schmid, 2015. "Healthcare Demand in the Presence of Discrete Price Changes," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(9), pages 1164-1177, September.
    3. Liran Einav & Amy Finkelstein & Stephen P. Ryan & Paul Schrimpf & Mark R. Cullen, 2013. "Selection on Moral Hazard in Health Insurance," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(1), pages 178-219, February.
    4. Zarek C. Brot-Goldberg & Amitabh Chandra & Benjamin R. Handel & Jonathan T. Kolstad, 2017. "What does a Deductible Do? The Impact of Cost-Sharing on Health Care Prices, Quantities, and Spending Dynamics," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 132(3), pages 1261-1318.
    5. Manning, Willard G, et al, 1987. "Health Insurance and the Demand for Medical Care: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(3), pages 251-277, June.
    6. Matthew Rabin & Ted O'Donoghue, 1999. "Doing It Now or Later," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(1), pages 103-124, March.
    7. Pagan,Adrian & Ullah,Aman, 1999. "Nonparametric Econometrics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521355643, January.
    8. Alan I. Barreca & Melanie Guldi & Jason M. Lindo & Glen R. Waddell, 2011. "Saving Babies? Revisiting the effect of very low birth weight classification," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 126(4), pages 2117-2123.
    9. Sebastian Calonico & Matias D. Cattaneo & Rocio Titiunik, 2014. "Robust Nonparametric Confidence Intervals for Regression‐Discontinuity Designs," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 82, pages 2295-2326, November.
    10. Hitoshi Shigeoka, 2014. "The Effect of Patient Cost Sharing on Utilization, Health, and Risk Protection," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(7), pages 2152-2184, July.
    11. Liran Einav & Amy Finkelstein, 2018. "Moral Hazard in Health Insurance: What We Know and How We Know It," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 16(4), pages 957-982.
    12. Liran Einav & Amy Finkelstein & Paul Schrimpf, 2015. "The Response of Drug Expenditure to Nonlinear Contract Design: Evidence from Medicare Part D," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 130(2), pages 841-899.
    13. Randall P. Ellis, 1986. "Rational Behavior in the Presence of Coverage Ceilings and Deductibles," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 17(2), pages 158-175, Summer.
    14. Klinger, Sabine & Weber, Enzo, 2020. "GDP-employment decoupling in Germany," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 82-98.
    15. Christina M Dalton & Gautam Gowrisankaran & Robert J Town, 2020. "Salience, Myopia, and Complex Dynamic Incentives: Evidence from Medicare Part D," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 87(2), pages 822-869.
    16. Cutler, David M. & Zeckhauser, Richard J., 2000. "The anatomy of health insurance," Handbook of Health Economics, in: A. J. Culyer & J. P. Newhouse (ed.), Handbook of Health Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 11, pages 563-643, Elsevier.
    17. Guo, Audrey & Zhang, Jonathan, 2019. "What to expect when you are expecting: Are health care consumers forward-looking?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    18. Keeler, Emmett B & Newhouse, Joseph P & Phelps, C E, 1977. "Deductibles and the Demand for Medical Care Services: The Theory of a Consumer Facing a Variable Price Schedule under Uncertainty," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 45(3), pages 641-655, April.
    19. Redmond, Paul & McGuinness, Seamus, 2020. "Essential Employees during the Covid-19 Crisis," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number SUSTAT85.
    20. Andrew Gelman & Guido Imbens, 2019. "Why High-Order Polynomials Should Not Be Used in Regression Discontinuity Designs," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(3), pages 447-456, July.
    21. Helmut Farbmacher & Peter Ihle & Ingrid Schubert & Joachim Winter & Amelie Wuppermann, 2017. "Heterogeneous Effects of a Nonlinear Price Schedule for Outpatient Care," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(10), pages 1234-1248, October.
    22. repec:oup:restud:v:84:y::i:1:p:1-44. is not listed on IDEAS
    23. Hayen, Arthur P. & Klein, Tobias J. & Salm, Martin, 2021. "Does the framing of patient cost-sharing incentives matter? the effects of deductibles vs. no-claim refunds," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    24. Abaluck, Jason & Gruber, Jonathan & Swanson, Ashley, 2018. "Prescription drug use under Medicare Part D: A linear model of nonlinear budget sets," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 106-138.
    25. Mark V. Pauly & Thomas G. Mcguire & Pedro P. Barros (ed.), 2011. "Handbook of Health Economics," Handbook of Health Economics, Elsevier, volume 2, number 2.
    26. Keeler, Emmett B. & Rolph, John E., 1988. "The demand for episodes of treatment in the health insurance experiment," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(4), pages 337-367, December.
    27. Hayen, A.P. & van den Berg, M.J. & Meijboom, B.R. & Struijs, J.N. & Westert, G.P., 2015. "Incorporating shared savings programs into primary care : From theory to practice," Other publications TiSEM 2e26be96-1dc3-41fe-8dc9-c, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    28. Whelan, Adele & Smyth, Emer & McGuinness, Seamus, 2020. "Evaluation of SICAP pre-employment supports," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number RS109.
    29. Patton, Andrew J. & Timmermann, Allan, 2010. "Monotonicity in asset returns: New tests with applications to the term structure, the CAPM, and portfolio sorts," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(3), pages 605-625, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gökkoca, Gökçe, 2024. "Antibiotic Stewardship in Primary Care: Evidence from Pay-for-Performance in France," TSE Working Papers 24-1567, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    2. Johansson, Naimi & de New, Sonja C. & Kunz, Johannes S. & Petrie, Dennis & Svensson, Mikael, 2023. "Reductions in out-of-pocket prices and forward-looking moral hazard in health care demand," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    3. Avdic, Daniel & Decker, Simon & Karlsson, Martin & Salm, Martin, 2024. "No-claim refunds and healthcare use," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    4. Anderson, David M. & Hoagland, Alex & Zhu, Ed, 2024. "Medical bill shock and imperfect moral hazard," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    5. Harrison, Glenn W. & Kairies-Schwarz, Nadja & Han, Johann, 2024. "Deductibles and health care utilization: An experiment on the role of forward-looking behavior," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 224(C), pages 717-748.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Klein, Tobias & Salm, Martin & Upadhyay, Suraj, 2020. "The Response to Dynamic Incentives in Insurance Contracts with a Deductible: Evidence from a Differences-in-Regression-Disconti," CEPR Discussion Papers 14552, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Klein, T.J.; & Salm, M.; & Upadhyay, S.;, 2024. "Patient cost-sharing and redistribution in health insurance," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 24/15, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    3. Klein, Tobias J. & Salm, Martin & Upadhyay, Suraj, 2024. "Patient Cost-Sharing and Redistribution in Health Insurance," IZA Discussion Papers 16778, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Hayen, Arthur P. & Klein, Tobias J. & Salm, Martin, 2021. "Does the framing of patient cost-sharing incentives matter? the effects of deductibles vs. no-claim refunds," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    5. Johansson, Naimi & de New, Sonja C. & Kunz, Johannes S. & Petrie, Dennis & Svensson, Mikael, 2023. "Reductions in out-of-pocket prices and forward-looking moral hazard in health care demand," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    6. Harrison, Glenn W. & Kairies-Schwarz, Nadja & Han, Johann, 2024. "Deductibles and health care utilization: An experiment on the role of forward-looking behavior," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 224(C), pages 717-748.
    7. Toshiaki Iizuka & Hitoshi Shigeoka, 2018. "Free for Children? Patient Cost-sharing and Healthcare Utilization," NBER Working Papers 25306, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Powell, David & Goldman, Dana, 2021. "Disentangling moral hazard and adverse selection in private health insurance," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 222(1), pages 141-160.
    9. Guo, Audrey & Zhang, Jonathan, 2019. "What to expect when you are expecting: Are health care consumers forward-looking?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    10. Lin, Haizhen & Sacks, Daniel W., 2019. "Intertemporal substitution in health care demand: Evidence from the RAND Health Insurance Experiment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 29-43.
    11. M. Antonini & R. C. van Kleef & J. Henriquez & F. Paolucci, 2023. "Can risk rating increase the ability of voluntary deductibles to reduce moral hazard?," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 48(1), pages 130-156, January.
    12. Natalia Serna, 2021. "Cost sharing and the demand for health services in a regulated market," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(6), pages 1259-1275, June.
    13. Sá, Luís & Straume, Odd Rune, 2021. "Quality provision in hospital markets with demand inertia: The role of patient expectations," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    14. Ellis, Randall P. & Martins, Bruno & Zhu, Wenjia, 2017. "Health care demand elasticities by type of service," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 232-243.
    15. Haizhen Lin & Daniel W. Sacks, 2016. "Intertemporal Substitution in Health Care Demand: Evidence from the RAND Health Insurance Experiment," NBER Working Papers 22802, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Kairies-Schwarz, Nadja & Harrison, Glenn W. & Han, Johann, 2018. "Deductibles and Health Care Utilization: An Experiment on the Role of Forward-Looking Behavior," VfS Annual Conference 2018 (Freiburg, Breisgau): Digital Economy 181588, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    17. Zarek C. Brot-Goldberg & Amitabh Chandra & Benjamin R. Handel & Jonathan T. Kolstad, 2017. "What does a Deductible Do? The Impact of Cost-Sharing on Health Care Prices, Quantities, and Spending Dynamics," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 132(3), pages 1261-1318.
    18. Martin Gaynor & Kate Ho & Robert J. Town, 2015. "The Industrial Organization of Health-Care Markets," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 53(2), pages 235-284, June.
    19. Kowalski, Amanda E., 2015. "Estimating the tradeoff between risk protection and moral hazard with a nonlinear budget set model of health insurance," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 122-135.
    20. Anderson, David M. & Hoagland, Alex & Zhu, Ed, 2024. "Medical bill shock and imperfect moral hazard," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Patient cost-sharing; Health insurance; Dynamic incentives;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I13 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Insurance, Public and Private
    • H51 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Health

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:210:y:2022:i:c:s0047272722000627. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505578 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.