We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Does Abolishing a Copayment Increase Doctor Visits? A Comparative Case Study.
- Authors
Haaga, Tapio; Böckerman, Petri; Kortelainen, Mika; Tukiainen, Janne
- Abstract
Insurance coverage increases health care consumption, but less is known whether moderate copayments affect adults' primary care utilization in a system characterized by gatekeeping. We analyze whether abolishing a 14-euro copayment for visits to general practitioners (GP) in Helsinki, the capital of Finland, increased the number of GP visits among adults and especially among low-income individuals. Using a difference-in-differences (DD) design and combining several administrative registers from 2011 to 2014, we find that the abolition is associated with only a small increase in GP visits (+0.04 visits annually, or +4.4 %, for all adults). The increase is driven by low-income adults (+0.06 visits, or +4.5 %, at the bottom 40 %). Although the point estimates are rather robustly positive, the conclusions regarding the statistical significance are sensitive to how we account for clustering in a setting characterized by only one treated cluster and a finite number of comparison clusters.
- Subjects
HELSINKI (Finland); FINLAND; POOR people; HEALTH insurance; GENERAL practitioners; PHYSICIANS; INDUSTRIAL clusters; PRIMARY care
- Publication
B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, 2024, Vol 24, Issue 1, p187
- ISSN
2194-6108
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1515/bejeap-2023-0056