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Price Variation in Markets with Homogeneous Goods The Case of Medigap

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  • Nicole Maestas
  • Mathis Schroeder
  • Dana P. Goldman

Abstract

About one-third of elderly Americans age 65 and older supplements their Medicare health insurance in a private insurance market known as the “Medigap” market. Prices for Medigap policies vary widely, despite the fact that regulations enacted in 1992 standardized all Medigap policies, thereby creating a market with homogenous insurance products. Economic theory suggests that consumer search costs can lead to a non-degenerate price distribution within a market for otherwise homogenous goods. Using a structural model of equilibrium search costs first posed by Carlson and McAfee (1983), the authors find that nearly all consumers face search costs high enough to prevent them from searching until they find the lowest priced Medigap policy. They estimate average search costs to be $249, substantially higher than has been found in other markets, but plausible given the complex nature of the Medigap market and its elderly consumer population. The implied aggregate welfare loss is approximately $798 million or $484 per policyholder.

Suggested Citation

  • Nicole Maestas & Mathis Schroeder & Dana P. Goldman, 2007. "Price Variation in Markets with Homogeneous Goods The Case of Medigap," Working Papers WR-504, RAND Corporation.
  • Handle: RePEc:ran:wpaper:wr-504
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    9. Jeffrey R. Brown & Austan Goolsbee, 2002. "Does the Internet Make Markets More Competitive? Evidence from the Life Insurance Industry," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 110(3), pages 481-507, June.
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    11. Finkelstein, Amy, 2004. "Minimum standards, insurance regulation and adverse selection: evidence from the Medigap market," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(12), pages 2515-2547, December.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. 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.
    2. Karine Lamiraud & Pierre Stadelmann, 2020. "Switching costs in competitive health insurance markets: The role of insurers' pricing strategies," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(9), pages 992-1012, September.
    3. Keane, M.P. & Thorp, S., 2016. "Complex Decision Making," Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, in: Piggott, John & Woodland, Alan (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 661-709, Elsevier.
    4. Amanda Starc, 2014. "Insurer pricing and consumer welfare: evidence from Medigap," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 45(1), pages 198-220, March.
    5. Matthew N. White, 2016. "Competition Among Insurers and Consumer Welfare," Working Papers 16-02, University of Delaware, Department of Economics.
    6. Gaynor, Martin & Town, Robert J., 2011. "Competition in Health Care Markets," Handbook of Health Economics, in: Mark V. Pauly & Thomas G. Mcguire & Pedro P. Barros (ed.), Handbook of Health Economics, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 499-637, Elsevier.
    7. Keith M. Marzilli Ericson & Amanda Starc, 2015. "Pricing Regulation and Imperfect Competition on the Massachusetts Health Insurance Exchange," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 97(3), pages 667-682, July.
    8. Wuppermann, Amelie & Bauhoff, Sebastian & Grabka, Markus, 2014. "The Price Sensitivity of Health Plan Choice among Retirees: Evidence from the German Social Health Insurance," VfS Annual Conference 2014 (Hamburg): Evidence-based Economic Policy 100352, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    9. Wuppermann, Amelie C. & Bauhoff, Sebastian & Grabka, Markus M., 2014. "The Price Sensitivity of Health Plan Choice: Evidence from Retirees in the German Social Health Insurance," Discussion Papers in Economics 21080, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    10. Lindeboom, Maarten & van der Klaauw, Bas & Bolhaar, Jonneke, 2010. "Insurance Search and Switching Behavior," CEPR Discussion Papers 7942, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Michael P. Keane & Susan Thorp, 2016. "Complex Decision Making: The Roles of Cognitive Limitations, Cognitive Decline and Ageing," Economics Papers 2016-W10, Economics Group, Nuffield College, University of Oxford.
    12. Haizhen Lin & Matthijs R. Wildenbeest, 2013. "Search and Prices in the Medigap Insurance Market," Working Papers 2013-15, Indiana University, Kelley School of Business, Department of Business Economics and Public Policy.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    health insurance; medigap; elderly;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G22 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Insurance; Insurance Companies; Actuarial Studies
    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets

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