Do benefits in kind or refunds affect health service utilization and health outcomes? A natural experiment from Japan

• 발행기관: 한국재정학회(구 한국재정·공공경제학회)
• 저자명: Reo TAKAKU Shun-ichiro BESSHO
• 간행물 정보: 『한국재정학회 학술대회 논문집』2015년도 추계학술대회 논문집, 1~33쪽, 전체 33쪽
• 주제분류: 경제경영 > 경제학
• 파일형태: PDF
• 발행일자: 2015.09.30

영문 초록

The Japan Medical Association, a lobby of physicians, went on strike in July 1971 because of the medical reforms by the government. Although these physicians resigned as health insurance doctors, they continued to provide medical care and even health insurance treatment in some areas. This study uses the regional differences in resignation rates as a natural experiment to examine how the payment method of health insurance affects medical service utilization and health outcomes. Our estimation results indicate that if the participation rate of the strike increased by 1 percentage point and proxy claims were refused completely, the number of cases of insurance benefits and total amount of insurance benefits would decrease by 0.78% and 0.58%, respectively compared with the same month in the previous year. Moreover, the average amount of insurance benefits per claim increased since patients with relatively less serious diseases might have sought healthcare less often. Finally, our results suggest that the strike did not affect death rates in Japan.

목차

1. Introduction

2. Background

3. Data

4. Econometric specification

5. Results

6. Concluding Remarks

키워드

health insurance health insurance payment method physician strike medical service utilization