Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/87406 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
Tinbergen Institute Discussion Paper No. 12-078/3
Publisher: 
Tinbergen Institute, Amsterdam and Rotterdam
Abstract: 
Medical expenditure risk can pose a major threat to living standards. We derive decomposable measures of catastrophic medical expenditure risk from reference-dependent utility with loss aversion. We propose a quantile regression based method of estimating risk exposure from cross-section data containing information on the means of financing health payments. We estimate medical expenditure risk in seven Asian countries and find it is highest in Laos and China, and is lowest in Malaysia. Exposure to risk is generally higher for households that have less recourse to self-insurance, lower incomes, wealth and education, and suffer from chronic illness.
Subjects: 
medical expenditures
catastrophic payments
downside risk
reference-dependent utility
Asia
JEL: 
D12
D31
D80
I13
I15
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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