Journal: Health Economics

Abbreviation

Health econ.

Publisher

Wiley-Blackwell

Journal Volumes

ISSN

1057-9230
1099-1050

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Publications 1 - 7 of 7
  • Pumps, Germs and Storage
    Item type: Journal Article
    Günther, Isabel; Schipper, Youdi (2013)
    Health Economics
  • Toward mandatory health insurance in low-income countries? An analysis of claims data in Tanzania
    Item type: Journal Article
    Durizzo, Kathrin; Harttgen, Kenneth; Tediosi, Fabrizio; et al. (2022)
    Health Economics
    Many low-income countries are in the process of scaling up health insurance with the goal of achieving universal coverage. However, little is known about the usage and financial sustainability of mandatory health insurance. This study analyzes 26 million claims submitted to the Tanzanian National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), which covers two million public servants for whom public insurance is mandatory, to understand insurance usage patterns, cost drivers, and financial sustainability. We find that in 2016, half of policyholders used a health service within a single year, with an average annual cost of 33 US$ per policyholder. About 10% of the population was responsible for 80% of the health costs, and women, middle-age and middle-income groups had the highest costs. Out of 7390 health centers, only five health centers are responsible for 30% of total costs. Estimating the expected health expenditures for the entire population based on the NHIF cost structure, we find that for a sustainable national scale-up, policy makers will have to decide between reducing the health benefit package or increasing revenues. We also show that the cost structure of a mandatory insurance scheme in a low-income country differs substantially from high-income settings. Replication studies for other countries are warranted.
  • The role of civic capital on vaccination
    Item type: Journal Article
    Buonanno, Paolo; Galletta, Sergio; Puca, Marcello (2023)
    Health Economics
    Can civic-minded individuals fight against a pandemic? In this paper, we show that civic capital plays an important role when assessing the level of compliance with COVID-19 vaccination recommendations. Analyzing data on a large sample of municipalities from the Italian region of Lombardy, we show that the share of vaccinated individuals is significantly higher in municipalities with higher pre-determined levels of civic capital. These findings are robust to the possibility of spatial spillovers across neighboring municipalities. Our findings contribute to the existing evidence highlighting the importance of individual contributions and civic capital as important behavioral determinants affecting the containment of infectious diseases.
  • Federalism and regional health care expenditures
    Item type: Journal Article
    Crivelli, Luca; Filippini, Massimo; Mosca, Ilaria (2006)
    Health Economics
  • Sickness Absence, Moral Hazard and the Business Cycle
    Item type: Journal Article
    Pichler, Stefan (2015)
    Health Economics
  • Does Experience Rating Improve Obstetric Practices? Evidence from Italy
    Item type: Journal Article
    Amaral-Garcia, Sofia; Bertoli, Paola; Grembi, Veronica (2015)
    Health Economics
  • Effects of ownership, subsidization and teaching activities on hospital costs in Switzerland
    Item type: Journal Article
    Farsi, Mehdi; Filippini, Massimo (2008)
    Health Economics
    This paper explores the cost structure of Swiss hospitals, focusing on differences due to teaching activities and those related to ownership and subsidization types. A stochastic total cost frontier with a Cobb–Douglas functional form has been estimated for a panel of 148 general hospitals over the six-year period from 1998 to 2003. Inpatient cases adjusted by DRG cost weights and ambulatory revenues are considered as two separate outputs. The adopted econometric specification allows for unobserved heterogeneity across hospitals. The results suggest that teaching activities are an important cost-driving factor and hospitals that have a broader range of specialization are relatively more costly. The excess costs of university hospitals can be explained by more extensive teaching activities as well as the relative complexity of the offered medical treatments from a teaching point of view. However, even after controlling for such differences university hospitals have shown a relatively low cost-efficiency especially in the first two or three years of the sample period. The analysis does not provide any evidence of significant efficiency differences across ownership/subsidy categories.
Publications 1 - 7 of 7