Public willingness to pay for health care hinges on perceived benefits and risks

Health care is undoubtedly essential for everybody. As people age, the danger for well being points and associated bills will increase. Consequently, many international locations have common well being care techniques, primarily funded via tax and insurance coverage, to make sure entry to important well being care providers.

However, this technique is below a heavy fiscal burden because the getting older inhabitants has elevated manyfold, owing to reducing fertility charges and rising life span. To maintain the system, governments should face the herculean job of persuading residents to contribute extra to medical health insurance.

In a latest examine, a analysis staff consisting of Associate Professor Tomoko Matsumoto and Junior Associate Professor Daiki Kishishita from Tokyo University of Science, Japan, assessed whether or not informing people about the advantages they might personally obtain sooner or later from the well being care system may result in profitable persuasion. This examine was printed within the European Journal of Political Economy on 8 August 2024.

Highlighting the rationale behind their examine, the authors say, “Aging-related well being dangers will have an effect on everybody, no matter socioeconomic teams. However, research point out that individuals are not well-informed in regards to the authorities’s fiscal actions, notably associated to public well being care techniques, and the advantages they provide. So, informing people about self-benefits from the well being care system might enhance their political help for greater contributions to well being care insurance coverage to maintain the system.”

Accordingly, researchers developed a two-period overlapping generations mannequin and hypothesized that informing individuals about future self-benefits might enhance their help for paying extra for medical health insurance. However, this help reduces when people be taught in regards to the system’s fiscal unsustainability because of an getting older inhabitants.

To take a look at these hypotheses, researchers performed an internet survey experiment with 4,367 Japanese respondents, who had been principally under 75 years of age. They had been randomly assigned to obtain data framed when it comes to the long run self-benefits (Framing S) or present advantages obtained by older adults (Framing N).

In Framing S, they had been once more randomly assigned both to the therapy group that obtained details about future self-benefits or the management group that didn’t. The therapy group was additional divided into those that had been knowledgeable of the fiscal dangers and people who weren’t. Respondents then rated their help for a 1% enhance in medical health insurance contributions. The similar course of was adopted for Framing N. Lastly, researchers in contrast the outcomes from each teams to see which framing was more practical.

In Framing S, 81% of the respondents underestimated the advantages of the general public well being care system. This means that these respondents’ expectations would enhance when supplied with the precise self-benefits. So, researchers thought of solely these respondents for additional evaluation.

Surprisingly, on common, the therapy (informing individuals about future self-benefits) had no affect on gaining help for greater contributions to medical health insurance. Interestingly, for many who had been unaware of the fiscal dangers, the therapy elevated help by 28.9 share factors. However, as anticipated, this optimistic impact disappeared as soon as the unaware group realized in regards to the fiscal unsustainability of the general public well being care system.

In Framing N (the place future self-benefits weren’t explicitly highlighted), the therapy had no impact on respondents who had been unaware of the fiscal dangers. However, amongst those that had been conscious, help dropped by eight share factors. “The outcomes point out that informing the advantages with out framing them as self-benefits might have a restricted affect on rising political help for greater contributions to medical health insurance,” says the authors.

The findings carry vital implications for policymakers, governments, and international locations with struggling public well being care techniques and an getting older inhabitants.

“To enhance help for medical health insurance techniques, it is very important inform individuals about future self-benefits. But first, individuals have to imagine that they are going to positively profit from the system sooner or later. This could possibly be achieved by implementing fiscal consolidation insurance policies to construct belief in public finance,” concludes Dr. Matsumoto and Dr. Kishishita.