The Impact of Private Versus Social Health Insurance on Offered Waiting Times in German Acute Care Hospitals

Schwierz, Christoph; Wübker, Ansgar; Kuchinke, Bjoern A.

doi:10.2139/ssrn.1491549

The Impact of Private Versus Social Health Insurance on Offered Waiting Times in German Acute Care Hospitals

Ruhr Economic Paper No. 120

22 Pages Posted: 22 Oct 2009

See all articles by Christoph Schwierz

Bjoern A. Kuchinke

Ilmenau University of Technology

Date Written: July 1, 2009

Abstract

This paper shows that patients with private health insurance (PHI) are being offered significantly shorter waiting times than patients with statutory health insurance (SHI) in German acute hospital care. This behavior may be driven by the higher expected profitability of PHI relative to SHI holders. Further, we find that hospitals offering private insurees shorter waiting times as compared to SHI holders have a significantly better financial performance than those abstaining from or with less discrimination.

Keywords: Private health insurance, waiting time, German acute care hospitals

JEL Classification: I10, I11, D21

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Schwierz, Christoph and Wübker, Ansgar and Kuchinke, Bjoern A., The Impact of Private Versus Social Health Insurance on Offered Waiting Times in German Acute Care Hospitals (July 1, 2009). Ruhr Economic Paper No. 120, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1491549 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1491549