Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/18594 
Year of Publication: 
2006
Series/Report no.: 
RWI Discussion Papers No. 43
Publisher: 
Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (RWI), Essen
Abstract: 
This paper examines the effect of copayments on doctor visits using the German health care reform of 2004 as a natural experiment. In January 2004, copayments of 10 euros for the first doctor visit in each quarter have been introduced for all adults in the statutory health insurance. Individuals covered by private health insurance as well as youths have been exempted from these copayments. We use them as control groups in a difference-in-differences approach to identify the causal impact of these copayments on doctor visits. In contrast to expectations and public opinion our results indicate that there are no statistically significant effects of the copayments on the decision of visiting a doctor.
Subjects: 
Copayment
doctor visits
difference-in-differences
fixed-effect logit
JEL: 
I18
I11
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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