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Health insurance and lifestyles

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  • Aida Isabel Tavares

Abstract

This article contributes to the discussion surrounding the existence of ex ante moral hazard and propitious selection in a voluntary private health insurance scenario. Moreover, it provides an estimation of the determinants of lifestyle choices and of private health insurance demand. A multivariate probit is estimated for health insurance demand and lifestyle decisions to take into account the potential endogeneity of these decisions. The results indicate that there is evidence of ex ante moral hazard in deciding to do sports and eating healthy snacks. Hence, no propitious selection has been found for these decisions. Another relevant result shows that there is no individual heterogeneity for the lifestyle choices, except for smoking, and private health insurance choice. Evidence from the results also supports the idea that there are nonobservable variables playing a role in the lifestyle decisions. These results provide some directions for policymakers, such as the promotion of precautionary behaviours and the use of implicit lifestyle drivers to promote healthy choices by people.

Suggested Citation

  • Aida Isabel Tavares, 2014. "Health insurance and lifestyles," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(16), pages 1910-1923, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:46:y:2014:i:16:p:1910-1923
    DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2014.889803
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Anderson E Stanciole, 2008. "Health Insurance and Lifestyle Choices: Identifying Ex Ante Moral Hazard in the US Market," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 33(4), pages 627-644, October.
    2. STANCIOLE Anderson, 2007. "Health Insurance and Life Style Choices: Identifying the Ex Ante Moral Hazard," IRISS Working Paper Series 2007-10, IRISS at CEPS/INSTEAD.
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    Cited by:

    1. Wanyue Dong & Jianmin Gao & Zhongliang Zhou & Ruhai Bai & Yue Wu & Min Su & Chi Shen & Xin Lan & Xiao Wang, 2018. "Effects of China’s urban basic health insurance on preventive care service utilization and health behaviors: Evidence from the China Health and Nutrition Survey," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(12), pages 1-14, December.

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