Moral hazard and the impact of private health insurance on the utilisation of health care in Malaysia

In Malaysia, private health insurance coverage is usually limited to inpatient treatment or hospitalisation. With private health insurance, there is a possibility that individuals will use health care services more frequently or spend more on health care (known as moral hazard effects) because the...

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Main Authors:	Zurina Kefeli @ Zulkefli, Jones, Glenn
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2012
Online Access:	http://journalarticle.ukm.my/6352/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/6352/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/6352/1/jeko_47-1.pdf

id	ukm-6352
recordtype	eprints
spelling	ukm-63522016-12-14T06:40:56Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/6352/ Moral hazard and the impact of private health insurance on the utilisation of health care in Malaysia Zurina Kefeli @ Zulkefli, Jones, Glenn In Malaysia, private health insurance coverage is usually limited to inpatient treatment or hospitalisation. With private health insurance, there is a possibility that individuals will use health care services more frequently or spend more on health care (known as moral hazard effects) because they know they are protected. This study estimates the importance of factors affecting the demand for private health insurance and how it affects health care utilisation. This paper also provides an empirical test for the existence of moral hazard effects in health care utilisation. The analysis uses the second and third National Health and Morbidity Surveys (NHMS), which were conducted in 1996 and 2006. The analysis applies a bivariate probit model to estimate the demand for private insurance and its effect on the utilisation of health care. Utilisation of health care is defined as being admitted to either a public or private hospital. The results show that taking up private health insurance is lower among disadvantaged individuals, such as those with lower income, a lower level of education, those living in less developed regions and the unemployed. The findings also show that health conditions have a very strong effect on the hospitalisation decision. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that evidence of moral hazard existed in the 1996 but not in the 2006 data. From the results, policy makers can target an appropriate population for providing health subsidies if the National Health Insurance Scheme is implemented. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2012 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/6352/1/jeko_47-1.pdf Zurina Kefeli @ Zulkefli, and Jones, Glenn (2012) Moral hazard and the impact of private health insurance on the utilisation of health care in Malaysia. Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia, 46 (2). pp. 159-175. ISSN 0127-1962 http://www.ukm.my/fep/jem/content/2012-2.html
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Local University
institution	Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia
building	UKM Institutional Repository
collection	Online Access
language	English
description	In Malaysia, private health insurance coverage is usually limited to inpatient treatment or hospitalisation. With private health insurance, there is a possibility that individuals will use health care services more frequently or spend more on health care (known as moral hazard effects) because they know they are protected. This study estimates the importance of factors affecting the demand for private health insurance and how it affects health care utilisation. This paper also provides an empirical test for the existence of moral hazard effects in health care utilisation. The analysis uses the second and third National Health and Morbidity Surveys (NHMS), which were conducted in 1996 and 2006. The analysis applies a bivariate probit model to estimate the demand for private insurance and its effect on the utilisation of health care. Utilisation of health care is defined as being admitted to either a public or private hospital. The results show that taking up private health insurance is lower among disadvantaged individuals, such as those with lower income, a lower level of education, those living in less developed regions and the unemployed. The findings also show that health conditions have a very strong effect on the hospitalisation decision. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that evidence of moral hazard existed in the 1996 but not in the 2006 data. From the results, policy makers can target an appropriate population for providing health subsidies if the National Health Insurance Scheme is implemented.
format	Article
author	Zurina Kefeli @ Zulkefli, Jones, Glenn
spellingShingle	Zurina Kefeli @ Zulkefli, Jones, Glenn Moral hazard and the impact of private health insurance on the utilisation of health care in Malaysia
author_facet	Zurina Kefeli @ Zulkefli, Jones, Glenn
author_sort	Zurina Kefeli @ Zulkefli,
title	Moral hazard and the impact of private health insurance on the utilisation of health care in Malaysia
title_short	Moral hazard and the impact of private health insurance on the utilisation of health care in Malaysia
title_full	Moral hazard and the impact of private health insurance on the utilisation of health care in Malaysia
title_fullStr	Moral hazard and the impact of private health insurance on the utilisation of health care in Malaysia
title_full_unstemmed	Moral hazard and the impact of private health insurance on the utilisation of health care in Malaysia
title_sort	moral hazard and the impact of private health insurance on the utilisation of health care in malaysia
publisher	Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
publishDate	2012
url	http://journalarticle.ukm.my/6352/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/6352/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/6352/1/jeko_47-1.pdf
first_indexed	2023-09-18T19:46:39Z
last_indexed	2023-09-18T19:46:39Z
_version_	1777405945296453632

Moral hazard and the impact of private health insurance on the utilisation of health care in Malaysia

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