New publication: “No-claim refunds and healthcare use” authored by Martin Karlsson together with Daniel Avdic (Deakin University), Martin Salm (Tilburg University) and Simon Decker (formerly UDE) has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Public Economics.

Abstract:

No-claim refunds are cost-control instruments which stipulate a payback agreement contingent on one or more claim-free years. We study how such no-claim refunds affect claiming behavior using claims data from a large German health insurer and a policy that increased the refund size for certain plans. We propose a method to decompose the effect on claims into behavioral and non-behavioral components, and show that individuals responded to the refund policy by reducing claims by eight percent on average. The effect persisted for several years; behavioral responses were stronger for clients with more to gain from the policy; and reductions in claims were not restricted to treatments of questionable medical value.