The Effects of Health Insurance within Families : Experimental Evidence from Nicaragua
This paper measures the causal effects of parent enrollment into voluntary health insurance on healthcare utilization among insured and uninsured children in Nicaragua. The study utilizes a randomized trial and age-eligibility cut-off in which insu...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2017
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/492551498484598240/The-effects-of-health-insurance-within-families-experimental-evidence-from-Nicaragua http://hdl.handle.net/10986/27613 |
| Summary: | This paper measures the causal effects
of parent enrollment into voluntary health insurance on
healthcare utilization among insured and uninsured children
in Nicaragua. The study utilizes a randomized trial and
age-eligibility cut-off in which insurance subsidies were
randomly allocated to parents that covered their dependent
children under 12; children ages 12 and older were not
eligible for coverage. Among eligible children, the
insurance increased utilization at covered providers by 0.56
visits and increased overall utilization by 1.3 visits.
Ineligible children with insured parents experienced 1.7
fewer healthcare visits, driven by parent, not sibling
enrollment. The results suggest complementarities across
healthcare provider type, and provide evidence that
households reallocate resources across all members, in
response to changes in healthcare prices for some. |
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