%0 Journal Article 
%A López Nicolás, Ángel
%A Vera Hernández, Marcos
%T Are tax subsidies for private medical insurance self-financing? Evidence from a microsimulation model for outpatient and inpatient episodes
%D 2004
%U http://hdl.handle.net/10317/1185
%X This paper develops an empirical strategy to estimate whether subsidies to private
medical insurance are self-financing in countries where public and private health
insurance coexist. We construct a simulation routine based on a micro econometric
discrete choice model that allows us to evaluate the impact of premium changes on the
utilisation of outpatient and inpatient health care services. As an application, we
simulate the main feature of the 1999 Spanish income tax reform that abolished the
individual tax deduction for expenditures on private health insurance. We find evidence
suggesting that the fiscal subsidy is far from self-financing. This result is driven by the
fact that private medical insurance holders make concurrent use of public services and
by the low price elasticity of the demand for policies.
%K Economía Aplicada
%K Seguro médico privado
%K Utilización de asistencia sanitaria
%K Modelado estructural
%K Evaluación de la reforma tributaria
%K Private medical insurance
%K Health care utilization
%K Structural modeling
%K Tax reform evaluation
%~ GOEDOC, SUB GOETTINGEN