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on Health Economics |
| By: | Todd McElroy; David L. Dickinson; Nathan Stroh; Christopher A. Dickinson |
| Abstract: | Physical activity level is becoming more recognized as a primary factor in overall human health and obesity. Humans possess a number of traits that influence their physical activity level. We examined whether having a high or low desire to engage in challenging mental activity predicted differences in daily physical activity levels. We recruited 30 high “need for cognition” (NFC) individuals and 30 low-NFC individuals and measured their physical activity level in 30-second epochs over a 1-week period. Low-NFC individuals were more physically active overall but this difference was most pronounced during the 5-day work week and lessened during the weekend. Awareness of this physical activity deficit and its negative consequences may encourage high-NFC individuals to be proactive and adopt lifestyle changes to increase their physical activity levels. Key Words: Daily activity, Cognition, Obesity, Risk |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:apl:wpaper:13-17&r=hea |
| By: | Hubert Janicki; Brett O’Hara; Alice Zawacki |
| Abstract: | The degree to which firms contribute to the payment of workers’ health insurance premiums is an important consideration in the measurement of income and for understanding the potential impact of the 2010 Affordable Care Act on employment-based health insurance participation. Currently the U.S. Census Bureau imputes employer contributions in the Annual Social and Economic Supplement of the Current Population Survey based on data from the 1977 National Medical Care Expenditure Survey. The goal of this paper is to assess the extent to which this imputation methodology produces estimates reflective of the current distribution of employer contributions. The paper uses recent contributions data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey-Insurance Component to estimate a new model to inform the imputation procedure and to compare the resulting distribution of contributions. These new estimates are compared with those produced under current production methods across employee and employer characteristics. |
| Keywords: | health insurance, employer contributions, healthcare reform |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:13-41&r=hea |
| By: | Daniel Kemptner |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes a dynamic life cycle model of health risks, employment, early retirement, and wealth accumulation in order to analyze the health-related risks of consumption and old age poverty. In particular, the model includes a health process, the interaction between health and employment risks, and an explicit modeling of the German public insurance schemes. I rely on a dynamic programming discrete choice framework and estimate the model using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel. I quantify the health-related life cycle risks by simulating scenarios where health shocks do or do not occur at different points in the life cycle for individuals with differing endowments. Moreover, a policy simulation investigates minimum pension benefits as an insurance against old age poverty. While such a reform raises a concern about an increase in abuse of the early retirement option, the simulations indicate that a means test mitigates<br /> the moral hazard problem substantially. |
| Keywords: | dynamic programming, discrete choice, health, employment, early retirement, consumption, tax and transfer system |
| JEL: | C61 I14 J22 J26 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp583&r=hea |
| By: | Marc Fleurbaey (Princeton University - Princeton University); Marie-Louise Leroux (Université du Québec - Université du Québec - Université du Québec, CORE - Center of Operation Research and Econometrics [Louvain] - Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL) - Belgique); Pierre Pestieau (CORE - Center of Operation Research and Econometrics [Louvain] - Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL) - Belgique, PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - CNRS : UMR8545 - École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales [EHESS] - Ecole des Ponts ParisTech - Ecole normale supérieure de Paris - ENS Paris - Institut national de la recherche agronomique (INRA), EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris, CEPR - Center for Economic Policy Research - CEPR); Grégory Ponthière (PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - CNRS : UMR8545 - École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales [EHESS] - Ecole des Ponts ParisTech - Ecole normale supérieure de Paris - ENS Paris - Institut national de la recherche agronomique (INRA), EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris) |
| Abstract: | A premature death unexpectedly brings a life and a career to their end, leading to substantial welfare losses. We study the retirement decision in an economy with risky lifetime, and compare the laissez-faire with egalitarian social optima. We consider two social objectives: (1) the maximin on expected lifetime welfare (ex ante), allowing for a compensation for unequal life expectancies; (2) the maximin on realized lifetime welfare (ex post), allowing for a compensation for unequal lifetimes. The latter optimum involves, in general, decreasing lifetime consumption profiles, as well as raising the retirement age, unlike the ex ante egalitarian optimum. This result is robust to the introduction of unequal life expectancies and unequal productivities. Hence, the postponement of the retirement age can, quite surprisingly, be defended on egalitarian grounds --although the conclusion is reversed when mortality strikes only after retirement. |
| Keywords: | Risky lifetime ; Mortality ; Labour supply ; Retirement ; Compensation |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-00857945&r=hea |
| By: | Kodera, Kiyoshi; Ishii, Yojiro; Aoki, Tsunenori; Ashida, Tetsuyya; Abe, Chiharu |
| Abstract: | This report mainly reviews the years from 1945 to 1980. According to the historical statistics of per capita GDP in 1990 International Geary Khamis dollars by Angus Maddison, Japan‟s economy expanded ten times from $1,300 to $13,000 during this period. This change corresponds to a shift from a low to an upper middle income country in the world today. The values of per capita GDP of 2008 in the same statistics are $1,000 or below in Somalia, Afghanistan and Haiti; $1,000 to $2,000 in Sudan, Laos and Nicaragua; $2,000 to $3,000 in Mozambique, Vietnam and Bolivia; $3,000 to $4,000 in Egypt, Myanmar and Ecuador; $4,000 to $5,000 in South Africa, Indonesia and Guatemala; $5,000 to $10,000 in Turkey, Thailand, China and Brazil; and $10,000 to $13,000 in Malaysia and Argentina.2 This report focuses on Japan‟s policy experience in the said period to draw some lessons for developing countries in respective stages corresponding to those of economic growth in Japan, although their social situation and level ofavailable current technologies are different from those of Japan at respective periods in the past. |
| Keywords: | universal health coverage , Africa , Human Resources for Health , Japan's HRH policies |
| Date: | 2013–07–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jic:wpaper:1003&r=hea |
| By: | Shimazaki, Kenji |
| Keywords: | universal insurance coverage , policy impact , social insurance-based model , tax-based model , company-based health insurance |
| Date: | 2013–07–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jic:wpaper:1004&r=hea |
| By: | Zoë McLaren (Department of Health Management and Policy, School of Public Health, University of Michigan); Cally Ardington (SALDRU, School of Economics, University of Cape Town); Murray Leibbrandt (SALDRU, School of Economics, University of Cape Town) |
| Abstract: | Access to health care is a particular concern given the centrality of poor access in perpetuating poverty and inequality. South Africa's apartheid history leaves large racial disparities in access despite post-apartheid health policy to increase the number of health facilities, even in remote rural areas. However, even when health services are provided free of charge, monetary and time costs of travel to a local clinic may pose a significant barrier for vulnerable segments of the population, leading to overall poorer health. Using new data from the first nationally representative panel survey in South Africa together with administrative geographic data from the Department of Health, we investigate the role of distance to the nearest facility on patterns of health care utilization. We find that many apartheid legacies remain in place. Ninety percent of South Africans live within 7km of the nearest public clinic, and two-thirds live less than 2km away. However, 15% of Black African adults live more than 5km from the nearest facility, in contrast to only 7% of coloureds and 4% of whites. There is a clear income gradient in proximity to public clinics. Also, we find distance decay in the uptake of important health services such as having a skilled birth attendant, an immunization record and a growth chart for children. The poorest tend to reside furthest from the nearest clinic and an inability to bear travel costs constrains them to lower quality health care facilities. Within this general picture, men and women have different patterns of health care utilization, with the reduction in utilization of health care associated with distance being larger for men than it is for women. Much has been done to redress disparities in South Africa since the end of apartheid but progress is still needed to achieve equity in health care access. |
| Keywords: | Health care access, inequality, South Africa |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ldr:wpaper:97&r=hea |