Citation
Aistov, A.;Aleksandrova, E.;Gerry, C. J. (2021). Voluntary private health insurance, health-related behaviours and health outcomes: evidence from Russia.
European Journal of Health Economics, 22(2), 281-309. PMCID: PMC7757736
Abstract
This paper contributes to the discussion around ex-post (increased utilisation of health care) and ex-ante (changes in health behaviours) moral hazard in supplemental private health insurance. Applying a range of methodologies to data from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey-Higher School of Economics we exploit a selection mechanism in the data to compare the impact of workplace provided and individually purchased supplemental health insurance on the utilisation of health care, on a range of health behaviours and on self-assessed health. We find compelling policy-relevant evidence of ex-post moral hazard that confirms a theoretical prediction and empirical regularity found in other settings. In contrast to other empirical findings though, our data reveals evidence of ex-ante moral hazard demonstrated by clear behavioural differences between those with self-funded supplemental health insurance and those for whom the workplace finances the additional insurance. We find no evidence that either form of insurance is related to improved self-assessed health.
URL
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10198-020-01252-2Reference Type
Journal Article
Year Published
2021
Journal Title
European Journal of Health Economics
Author(s)
Aistov, A.;Aleksandrova, E.;Gerry, C. J.
PMCID
PMC7757736
