New Data from IFPRI Illuminate Findings in Health Insurance (Quality Health Care and Willingness to Pay for Health Insurance Retention: A Randomized…

New Data from IFPRI Illuminate Findings in Health Insurance (Quality Health Care and Willingness to Pay for Health Insurance Retention: A Randomized Experiment in Kolkata Slums)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Managed Care Weekly Digest -- Researchers detail new data in Health Insurance. According to news originating from Washington, District of Columbia, by NewsRx editors, the research stated, "The low quality of health care in developing countries reduces the poor's incentives to use quality health services and their demand for health insurance. Using data from a field experiment in India, I show that randomly offering insurance policyholders a free preventive checkup with a qualified doctor has a twofold effect: receiving this additional benefit raises willingness to pay to renew health insurance by 53%, doubling the likelihood of hypothetical renewal; exposed individuals are 10 percentage points more likely to consult a qualified practitioner when ill after the checkup."

Funders for this research include International Labour Organization, Centre for Insurance and Risk Management, University of Cape Town, CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (see also Health Insurance).

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from IFPRI, "Both effects are concentrated on poorer households. There is no effect on health knowledge and healthcare spending."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "This suggests that exposing insured households to quality preventive care can be a cost-effective way of raising the demand for quality health care and retaining policyholders in the insurance scheme."

For more information on this research see: Quality Health Care and Willingness to Pay for Health Insurance Retention: A Randomized Experiment in Kolkata Slums. Health Economics, 2016;26(5):619-638. (Wiley-Blackwell - www.wiley.com/; Health Economics - onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-1050)

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from C. Delavallade, IFPRI, Washington, DC, United States.

Keywords for this news article include: Washington, United States, Health Insurance, District of Columbia, North and Central America.

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