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Price vs. quantity in health insurance reimbursement

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  • Francesca Barigozzi

Abstract

While “integrated” systems regulate the quantity of health services, “Bismarckian” systems regulate their price. This paper compares the consumers’ allocations implemented within the two reimbursement systems. In the model, illness has a negative impact on labor productivity while public insurance is financed through income tax. Consumers have private information with respect to a parameter which can be interpreted as heterogeneity either in intensity of their preferences for treatment or in the type of illness. The social planner may be constrained to adopt uniform insurance plans, or may be free to choose self selecting plans. The analysis of uniform plans shows that Bismarckian systems dominate integrated systems from the social welfare point of view; whereas the opposite ranking holds with self-selecting plans. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2006

Suggested Citation

  • Francesca Barigozzi, 2006. "Price vs. quantity in health insurance reimbursement," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 6(3), pages 191-213, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:ijhcfe:v:6:y:2006:i:3:p:191-213
    DOI: 10.1007/s10754-006-9001-8
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Public health insurance; In-kind transfers; Reimbursement insurance; Adverse selection; I11; I18; D82; H42;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • H42 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Publicly Provided Private Goods

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