Data Impediments to Empirical Work on Health Insurance Markets
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Leemore Dafny
Abstract
We compare four datasets that researchers might use to study competition in the health insurance industry. We show that the two datasets most commonly used to estimate market concentration differ considerably from each other (both in levels and in changes over time), and reflect implausibly high volatility in market shares. By comparison, market share volatility is much lower in a private dataset gathered by a leading investment bank, and in state-level hospital discharge data. We also demonstrate that the outcome of regressions using these data vary considerably by the source used. We conclude that researchers should be cautious about using available data and recommend a new source be developed for public use.
©2011 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Advances Article
- Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Incentives in Prescription Pharmaceuticals: The Case of Statins
- Strategic Responses to Parallel Trade
- Managed Care, Drug Benefits and Mortality: An Analysis of the Elderly
- Insurance, Consumer Choice, and the Equilibrium Price and Quality of Hospital Care
- Does the Market Punish Aggressive Experts? Evidence from Cesarean Sections
- Measuring the Return on Government Spending on the Medicare Managed Care Program
- Contributions Article
- Health Care Network Formation and Policyholders' Welfare
- Data Impediments to Empirical Work on Health Insurance Markets
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Advances Article
- Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Incentives in Prescription Pharmaceuticals: The Case of Statins
- Strategic Responses to Parallel Trade
- Managed Care, Drug Benefits and Mortality: An Analysis of the Elderly
- Insurance, Consumer Choice, and the Equilibrium Price and Quality of Hospital Care
- Does the Market Punish Aggressive Experts? Evidence from Cesarean Sections
- Measuring the Return on Government Spending on the Medicare Managed Care Program
- Contributions Article
- Health Care Network Formation and Policyholders' Welfare
- Data Impediments to Empirical Work on Health Insurance Markets
