《健康经济学》教学课件(英文版)—Chapter2.pptVIP

Card et al. (2009) Card et al. have two main findings: Unplanned emergency department admissions follow a linear trend around the age of 65 Other hospital admissions jump up at the age of 65 There is a discontinuity in medical usage at the same point of discontinuity in Medicare coverage! This is further evidence that demand for health care is sensitive to price Comparing demand curves How can we determine which type of demand is more price sensitive? Data from Keeler et al. (1988) Arc Elasticity Need a measure to compare the relative price sensitivity of different goods So the measure needs to be unitless (how else would we compare ER visits to sticks of gum?) Arc Elasticity: Health care has inelastic demand Does price for care affect health? Mortality rates RAND HIE: no difference between treatment groups ** 10% difference of mortality rate between high-risk participants on free and cost-sharing plans (people on free plan less likely to die) Oregon Medicaid: no difference between lottery winners and losers Does the price of care affect health? Does price for care affect health? RAND HIE: Generally, no health differences between people on free plan vs. cost-sharing! **Only statistically significant difference between plans were in blood pressure, myopia, presbyopia Does price for care affect health? Oregon Medicaid Experiment Lottery winners self-reported better overall health, more healthy days, and lower rates of depression Discrepancy with RAND HIE may be because Oregon Medicaid Study worked with the very low-income, while RAND HIE studied a broader cross-section of the U.S. Conclusion Demand curves for health care are downward sloping Quantity of care demanded is sensitive to price (though not as sensitive as other demands, e.g. for movies) BUT generally, price of health care does not seem to affect one’s health Exception is that price seems to affect the most vulnerable segments of the population (low-income, high blood pressure, etc.) Policy and