How Health Plan Enrollees Value Prices Relative to Supplemental Benefits and Service Quality

36 Pages Posted: 1 Apr 2015

See all articles by Christian Bünnings

Christian Bünnings

University of Paderborn; RWI - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research

Hendrik Schmitz

University of Duisburg-Essen - Department of Economics and Business Administration

Harald Tauchmann

Rhine-Westphalia Institute for Economic Research (RWI-Essen)

Nicolas R. Ziebarth

Cornell University

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: March 23, 2015

Abstract

This paper empirically assesses the relative role of health plan prices, service quality and optional benefits in the decision to choose a health plan. We link representative German SOEP panel data from 2007 to 2010 to (i) health plan service quality indicators, (ii) measures of voluntary benefit provision on top of federally mandated benefits, and (iii) health plan prices for almost all German health plans. Mixed logit models incorporate a total of 1,700 health plan choices with more than 50 choice sets for each individual. The findings suggest that, compared to prices, health plan service quality and supplemental benefits play a minor role in making a health plan choice.

Keywords: Service quality; non-essential benefits; prices; health plan switching; German sickness funds; SOEP

JEL Classification: D12, H51, I11, I13, I18

Suggested Citation

Bünnings, Christian and Schmitz, Hendrik and Tauchmann, Harald and Ziebarth, Nicolas R., How Health Plan Enrollees Value Prices Relative to Supplemental Benefits and Service Quality (March 23, 2015). Ruhr Economic Paper No. 545, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2583805 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2583805

Christian Bünnings

University of Paderborn ( email )

Warburger Str. 100
Paderborn, D-33098
Germany

RWI - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research ( email )

Hohenzollernstraße 1-3
Essen
Germany

Hendrik Schmitz (Contact Author)

University of Duisburg-Essen - Department of Economics and Business Administration ( email )

Universitätsstr. 9
Essen, 45141
Germany

Harald Tauchmann

Rhine-Westphalia Institute for Economic Research (RWI-Essen) ( email )

Hohenzollernstr. 1-3
45128 Essen
Germany

Nicolas R. Ziebarth

Cornell University ( email )

Ithaca, NY
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.human.cornell.edu/bio.cfm?netid=nrz2

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