Convergence of Health Care Expenditures Across the US States: A Reconsideration

Abstract

SUMMARYCurrent evidence on the convergence of health care expenditures across the US states into a single convergence club is non-existent. Against this backdrop, we revise this issue using a modified panel unit root test that accounts for smooth structural changes spanning the period of 1966-2009. The results illustrate that the ratio of the individual health care expenditures relative to the cross-sectional average is broken trend-stationary, not only in the aggregate panel, but also across all 50 US states, as indicated by a sequential panel selection method. In addition, the findings also document that the evidence of convergence in health care expenditures is possibly due to the convergence of personal disposable income across the US states. These results are expected to have important policy implications for the US health care market.

Air pollutants, economic growth and public health: implications for sustainable development in OECD countries

“…Apergis et al ( 2017 ) state that the US market gives considerable importance to oil and natural gas. However, the increasing trend for renewable energy in OECD countries is decreasing the CO 2 emissions in a way that promotes a healthy environment.…”

“…Another proposition, not as well developed, is that environmental degradation harms the economic growth of a country (Atilgan et al 2017). Apergis et al (2017) state that the US market gives considerable importance to oil and natural gas. However, the increasing trend for renewable energy in OECD countries is decreasing the CO 2 emissions in a way that promotes a healthy environment.…”

Convergence in Spanish Public health expenditure: Has the decentralization process generated disparities?

“…We should note that the PS methodology has been previously employed to test for convergence in health expenditures. We can cite the papers of Panopoulou and Pantelidis [10] and Apergis et al [23] in this regard, where an excellent explanation of the use of the PS methodology can be found. The results that we have obtained are reported in Tables 1 and 2.…”

Estimating the spatial correlation and convergence of China's healthcare resources allocation: evidence from the Yangtze River Delta Region

“…Other studies delved into different regions within individual countries, but also mainly used healthcare expenditure as an indicator. Studies have confirmed the existence of convergence of healthcare expenditure in US states [ 11 ], and further found that Indian states can be divided into two convergence clubs for healthcare expenditures [ 12 ]. In addition, healthcare expenditures of all counties in China tend to converge [ 13 ].…”