Reports from Tel Aviv University Provide New Insights into Healthcare Economics (Family Health Spillovers: Evidence From the Rand Health Insurance Experiment): Economics – Healthcare Economics

2021 OCT 15 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Researchers detail new data in Economics - Healthcare Economics. According to news reporting originating in Tel-Aviv, Israel, by NewsRx editors, the research stated, “I study how family spillovers shape healthcare consumption through two main sources: a learning channel whereby family members share information about their health insurance and the effec-tiveness of healthcare, and a behavioral channel whereby risk perception and habits are shared and transmitted. I exploit two types of sudden health shocks to identify a causal effect operating through each channel: a spouse’s non-fatal heart attack or stroke and a severe injury to a child.”

Funders for this research include RAND Corporation, University of Pennsylvania.

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from Tel Aviv University, “I incorporate these shocks into an event-study framework to quantify the effect of spillovers on healthcare consumption of a non-injured adult family member. I find a significant behavioral spillover effect of an increase of more than 200% in medical expenditure of preventive care over a four-year horizon. Moreover, I find a strong and persistent learning spillover that amounts to an average increase of more than 150% in medical expenditure relative to prior to the health shock, and I demonstrate that this effect promotes health investment.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “While the first result is in line with previous findings in the literature, the second is novel.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Family Health Spillovers: Evidence From the Rand Health Insurance Experiment. Journal of Health Economics, 2021;79:102505. Journal of Health Economics can be contacted at: Elsevier, Radarweg 29, 1043 Nx Amsterdam, Netherlands. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; Journal of Health Economics - http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-health-economics/)

Our news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Michal Hodor, Tel Aviv University, Coller Sch Management, Tel Aviv, Israel.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2021.102505. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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