This paper studies the impact of health insurance on individual out-of-pocket health expenditures in China. Using China Health and Nutrition Survey data between 1991 and 2006, we apply two-part and sample selection models to address issues caused by censored data and selection on unobservables....

We empirically investigate the determinants of local authority mental health expenditure in England. We adopt a reduced form demand and supply model, extended to incorporate possible interaction among authorities, as well as unobserved spatial heterogeneity. The model is estimated using an...

Public drug expenditures increased markedly in recent years across Italian Regions and they have become an important issue in the debate on health care cost containment. This paper uses Italian regional data to investigate the determinants of pharmaceutical expenditures. The study differs from...

In this paper, we tested the hypothesis that policy makers' choices concerning health spent at the local level are spatially correlated and electorally oriented. We check the influence of a set of demographic, electoral and economic determinants of public health activity. We performed a spatial...

I take advantage of regulatory and pricing dynamics in Medicare Part D to empirically explore interactions among adverse selection, switching costs, and regulation. I first document novel evidence of adverse selection and switching costs within Part D using detailed administrative data. I then...

Markets require informed participants to function efficiently. This paper examines the impact of providing targeted information directly to patients on their purchasing-decisions regarding pharmaceutical drugs. We analyze the effect of informational letters sent by a Swiss health insurer to...

Health care markets often lack a market force because the presence of health insurance undermines price signals. Patients have little incentive to shop for low-priced alternatives because they do not bear the full cost of their health care consumption. In turn, producers lack incentives to...

In the absence of third party and prepayment systems such as health insurance and tax-based healthcare financing, households in many low-income countries are exposed to the financial risks of paying large medical bills from out-of-pocket. In recent years, community based health insurance schemes...

Achieving universal health coverage, including financial risk protection and access to quality essential health-care services, is one of the main Sustainable Development Goals. In low-income countries, innovative and affordable health financing systems are key to realize these goals. This paper...

In the absence of third party and prepayment systems such as health insurance and tax-based healthcare financing, households in many low-income countries are exposed to the financial risks of paying large medical bills from out-of-pocket. In recent years, community based health insurance schemes...