When consumers have private information about risk of suffering a loss, or equivalently, if insurers are prohibited from using observable information on risk in underwriting, theoretical models of insurance predict adverse selection. Yet the most common finding in empirical studies is that of no...

Out-of-pocket health expenditures in Australia are high in international comparisons and have been growing at a faster rate than most other health costs in recent years. This raises concerns about the extent to which out-of-pocket costs have constrained access to health services for low income...

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is the most common life-shortening genetic disease, with an incidence of 1 in 2500 and carrier frequency of 1 in 25, amongst Caucasians (Welsh, Ramsey et al. 2001). With recent advances in treatment, most children with CF now can expect to survive into adulthood and life...

Overweight and obesity continue to contribute to increased risk of chronic diseases, including higher lifetime health expenditures and impacting on individuals? quality of life. Whilst international studies have compared individuals? perceptions of their body mass with more objective measures...

ABSTRACT We examine patient socioeconomic status, the strength of the patient–doctor relationship and local area competition as determinants of the quality and price of GP services. We exploit a large‐sample patient data set in Australia and its linkage to administrative databases. The...

Besley, Hall and Preston (JPubEc, 1999) investigate how waiting for medical treatment in public hospitals influences the decision to buy private health insurance, which covers faster private treatment. They find sizable positive impacts which have subsequently been influential on waiting lists...

A basic prediction of theoretical models of insurance is that if consumers have private information about their risk of suffering a loss there will be a positive correlation between risk and the level of insurance coverage. We test this prediction in the context of the market for private health...

Explaining individual, regional, and provider variation in health care spending is of enormous value to policymakers, but is often hampered by the lack of individual level detail in universal public health systems because budgeted spending is often not attributable to specific individuals. Even...