A Longitudinal Investigation of Willingness to Pay for Health Insurance in Germany

Abstract

The fact that individual health care costs affected WTP positively might indicate that demanding (expensive) health care services raises the awareness of the benefits of health insurance. Thus, measures to increase WTP in old age should target at improving transparency of the value of health insurances at the moment when individual health care utilization and corresponding costs are still relatively low.

Determinants of Willingness to Pay for Health Insurance in Germany—Results of the Population-Based Health Study of the Leipzig Research Centre for Civilization Diseases (LIFE-Adult-Study)

“…Thus far, two German studies investigated the WTP for health insurance among individuals in late life ( 5 , 6 ). Our findings extend these findings by determining correlates of WTP in the adult population.…”

“…In this study, the contingent valuation instrument was used. It has been discussed critically in previous research ( 5 ), particularly because it might affect the decisions (referring to selected money categories in the payment card and the fact that the participants could see all answer possibilities). Although the latter fact could be avoided by using bidding game strategies, these very time-consuming strategies are very difficult to implement in large cohort studies due to time constraints.…”

“…Following Bock et al ( 5 ), the mid-point technique was used in the present study which means that the mid-point of the interval defined by the amount of the maximum WTP and the minimum an individual would not pay (values of > €1,000 were transformed to €1,250) was used to compute the outcome measure.…”

“…Based on some recent studies and theoretical considerations ( 5 , 6 ), we included the following independent variables: gender, age, log household net equivalent income (in Euro), and health insurance (statutory health insurance; private health insurance). Furthermore, the 6-item version of the Lubben Social Network Scale ( 18 ) (LSNS-6) was used to quantify social contacts/social support.…”

“…Thus far, only a few studies exist examining the determinants of willingness to pay (WTP) for health insurance. More precisely, it has for example been shown that WTP for health insurance is associated with higher income, being male, higher educational level and higher individual health care costs among individuals in old age in Germany ( 5 , 6 ). However, to date it remains largely unknown which factors are associated with the WTP for health insurance in the general adult population.…”