Less Social Health Insurance - More Private Supplementary Insurance? - Empirical Evidence from Germany

21 Pages Posted: 20 May 2008

See all articles by Boris Augurzky

Boris Augurzky

Rhine-Westphalia Institute for Economic Research (RWI-Essen); IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Harald Tauchmann

Rhine-Westphalia Institute for Economic Research (RWI-Essen)

Date Written: May 2008

Abstract

This paper uses individual level data to analyze the effect of changes in the compulsory benefit package of the German statutory health insurance scheme on the demand for private supplementary insurance. In particular, we aim at measuring the effect of excluding dentures from the benefit package in 1997 as well as the effect of re-including them in 1999. A difference-in-differences estimator is used. Individuals born prior to 1979 serve as control group because only the young were affected by the reform. Our results do not exhibit any significant effects on the demand for supplementary health insurance. Thus, the hypothesis that clients do make informed choices about their health insurances' coverage is not supported.

Keywords: Supplementary private health insurance, dentures, difference- indifferences

JEL Classification: I12, P23

Suggested Citation

Augurzky, Boris and Tauchmann, Harald, Less Social Health Insurance - More Private Supplementary Insurance? - Empirical Evidence from Germany (May 2008). Ruhr Economic Paper No. 46, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1135223 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1135223

Boris Augurzky

Rhine-Westphalia Institute for Economic Research (RWI-Essen) ( email )

45128 Essen
Germany

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Harald Tauchmann (Contact Author)

Rhine-Westphalia Institute for Economic Research (RWI-Essen) ( email )

Hohenzollernstr. 1-3
45128 Essen
Germany

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