IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/tuddps/0508.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Do the age profiles of health care expenditure really steepen over time? New evidence from Swiss cantons

Author

Listed:
  • Felder, Stefan
  • Werblow, Andreas

Abstract

The red herring hypothesis contends that the high health care expenditure in old age is caused by proximity to death rather than calendar age. Dissenters point to longitudinal data and claim that health care expenditure age profiles tend to steepen over time. The present paper tests the steepening claim for Swiss health insurance, covering the time period 1997 to 2006 and 25 cantons. It analyzes the cantonal health care expenditure profile of men and women, taking into account differences in the mortality rates. The study covers seven components of health care, including long-term care. By and large, no evidence is found for relevant steepening effects of age profiles for either total, or the components, of health care expenditure.

Suggested Citation

  • Felder, Stefan & Werblow, Andreas, 2008. "Do the age profiles of health care expenditure really steepen over time? New evidence from Swiss cantons," Dresden Discussion Paper Series in Economics 05/08, Technische Universität Dresden, Faculty of Business and Economics, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:tuddps:0508
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/36494/1/590241524.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Peter Zweifel & Stefan Felder & Andreas Werblow, 2004. "Population Ageing and Health Care Expenditure: New Evidence on the “Red Herring”," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 29(4), pages 652-666, October.
    2. Andreas Werblow & Stefan Felder & Peter Zweifel, 2007. "Population ageing and health care expenditure: a school of ‘red herrings’?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(10), pages 1109-1126, October.
    3. Andreas Werblow & Stefan Felder & Peter Zweifel, 2007. "Population ageing and health care expenditure: a school of 'red herrings'?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(10), pages 1109-1126.
    4. Florian Buchner & Jürgen Wasem, 2006. "“Steeping” of Health Expenditure Profiles," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 31(4), pages 581-599, October.
    5. Office of Health Economics, 2007. "The Economics of Health Care," For School 001490, Office of Health Economics.
    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. Fredrik Gregersen, 2014. "The impact of ageing on health care expenditures: a study of steepening," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 15(9), pages 979-989, December.
    2. Chang, Shun-Chiao & Lin, Chi-Feng & Yeh, Ta-Chun & Chang, Chun-Wei, 2019. "Determinants of the performance of traditional Chinese medicine clinics in Taiwan," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(4), pages 379-387.
    3. Guohua Liu & Mohammed Arshad Khan & Ahsanuddin Haider & Moin Uddin, 2022. "Financial Development and Environmental Degradation: Promoting Low-Carbon Competitiveness in E7 Economies’ Industries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-16, December.
    4. Zhang, LiXia & Baloch, Zulfiqar Ali & Niu, Guangli, 2023. "Effects of COVID-19 on green bonds, renewable power stocks, and carbon markets: A dynamic spillover analysis," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    5. Wong, Albert & Wouterse, Bram & Slobbe, Laurentius C.J. & Boshuizen, Hendriek C. & Polder, Johan J., 2012. "Medical innovation and age-specific trends in health care utilization: Findings and implications," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 263-272.
    6. Friedrich Breyer & Normann Lorenz, 2021. "The “red herring” after 20 years: ageing and health care expenditures," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 22(5), pages 661-667, July.
    7. Stefan Felder, 2013. "The Impact of Demographic Change on Healthcare Expenditure," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 11(1), pages 03-06, 04.
    8. Stefan Felder, 2013. "The Impact of Demographic Change on Healthcare Expenditure," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 11(01), pages 03-06, April.
    9. Melberg, Hans Olav & Sørensen, Jan, 2013. "How does end of life costs and increases in life expectancy affect projections of future hospital spending?," HERO Online Working Paper Series 2013:9, University of Oslo, Health Economics Research Programme.
    10. Thomas Url, 2011. "Private Versicherungen als Finanzierungsquelle für den Pflegebedarf im Alter," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 41358.
    11. Viktor von Wyl & Konstantin Beck, 2014. "Risk adjustment in aging societies," Health Economics Review, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 1-14, December.
    12. repec:ces:ifodic:v:11:y:2013:i:1:p:19078503 is not listed on IDEAS

    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. Ried, Walter, 2007. "On the relationship between aging, edical progress and age-specific health care expenditures," Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Diskussionspapiere 08/2007, University of Greifswald, Faculty of Law and Economics.
    2. Colombier, Carsten & Weber, Werner, 2009. "Projecting health-care expenditure for Switzerland: further evidence against the 'red-herring' hypothesis," MPRA Paper 26747, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Nov 2009.
    3. Ried Walter, 2007. "Medizinisch-technischer Fortschritt und altersspezifische Gesundheitsausgaben / Medical Progress and Age-specific Expenditure on Health Care," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 227(5-6), pages 636-659, October.
    4. Colombier, Carsten, 2012. "Drivers of health care expenditure: Does Baumol's cost disease loom large?," FiFo Discussion Papers - Finanzwissenschaftliche Diskussionsbeiträge 12-5, University of Cologne, FiFo Institute for Public Economics.
    5. Friedrich Breyer & Normann Lorenz, 2021. "The “red herring” after 20 years: ageing and health care expenditures," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 22(5), pages 661-667, July.
    6. Karlsson, Martin & Klohn, Florian, 2011. "Some notes on how to catch a red herring: Ageing, time-to-death & care costs for older people in Sweden," Darmstadt Discussion Papers in Economics 207, Darmstadt University of Technology, Department of Law and Economics.
    7. Silvia Balia & Rinaldo Brau, 2014. "A Country For Old Men? Long‐Term Home Care Utilization In Europe," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(10), pages 1185-1212, October.
    8. Fabio Pammolli & Francesco Porcelli & Francesco Vidoli & Monica Auteri & Guido Borà, 2017. "La spesa sanitaria delle Regioni in Italia - Saniregio2017," Working Papers CERM 01-2017, Competitività, Regole, Mercati (CERM).
    9. Friedrich Breyer & Normann Lorenz & Thomas Niebel, 2015. "Health care expenditures and longevity: is there a Eubie Blake effect?," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 16(1), pages 95-112, January.
    10. Vincenzo Atella & Valentina Conti, 2013. "The effect of age and time to death on health care expenditures: the Italian experience," CEIS Research Paper 267, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 12 Nov 2013.
    11. Tim Riffe & Pil H. Chung & Jeroen Spijker & John MacInnes, 2016. "Time-to-death patterns in markers of age and dependency," Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, vol. 14(1), pages 229-254.
    12. Kristopher J. Hult & Tomas J. Philipson, 2012. "Public Liabilities and Health Care Policy," NBER Working Papers 18571, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Joan Costa‐Font & Cristina Vilaplana‐Prieto, 2020. "‘More than one red herring'? Heterogeneous effects of ageing on health care utilisation," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(S1), pages 8-29, October.
    14. Jasmin Häcker & Tobias Hackmann, 2012. "Los(T) In Long‐Term Care: Empirical Evidence From German Data 2000–2009," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(12), pages 1427-1443, December.
    15. Howdon, Daniel & Rice, Nigel, 2018. "Health care expenditures, age, proximity to death and morbidity: Implications for an ageing population," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 60-74.
    16. Colombier, Carsten, 2012. "Healthcare expenditure projections up to 2060," MPRA Paper 104919, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. France Weaver & Sally C. Stearns & Edward C. Norton & William Spector, 2009. "Proximity to death and participation in the long‐term care market," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(8), pages 867-883, August.
    18. Wen-Yi Chen & Yia-Wun Liang & Yu-Hui Lin, 2016. "Is the United States in the middle of a healthcare bubble?," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 17(1), pages 99-111, January.
    19. Binod Nepal & Laurie Brown & Simon Kelly & Richard Percival & Phil Anderson & Ruth Hancock & Geetha Ranmuthugala, 2011. "Projecting the Need for Formal and Informal Aged Care in Australia: A Dynamic Microsimulation Approach," NATSEM Working Paper Series 11/07, University of Canberra, National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling.
    20. Melberg, Hans Olav & Sørensen, Jan, 2013. "How does end of life costs and increases in life expectancy affect projections of future hospital spending?," HERO Online Working Paper Series 2013:9, University of Oslo, Health Economics Research Programme.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Ageing; health care expenditure; end-of-life expenditure;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination

    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:zbw:tuddps:0508. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/pltudde.html .

    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.