Health insurance and use of alternative medicine in Mexico

Abstract

Objectives I analyze the effect of coverage by health insurance on the use of alternative medicine such as folk healers and homeopaths, in particular if it complements or substitutes conventional services. Methods Panel data from the Mexican Health and Aging Study (MHAS) is used to estimate bivariate probit models in order to explain the use of alternative medicine while allowing the determinant of interest, access to health insurance, to be an endogenous factor. Results The findings indicate that households with insurance coverage less often use alternative medicine, and that the effect is much stronger among poor than among rich households. Conclusions Poor households substitute away from traditional medicine towards conventional medicine.

Use of traditional medicine in middle-income countries: a WHO-SAGE study

“…Similarly in India, the government and the community may give certain traditional forms of medicine considerable respect, in terms of policies and funding. Further, in both China and India many physicians have training in traditional medicine and use traditional remedies as part of their treatment recommendations ( Hesketh and Zhu 1997 ; van Gameren 2010 ; Kay 2013 ) Even so, the use of TM for healthcare in China and India is still considerably lower than commonly cited.…”

The Comparative Effectiveness of Mail Order Pharmacy Use vs. Local Pharmacy Use on LDL-C Control in New Statin Users

“…For example, it is possible that patients who use mail order pharmacy services are intrinsically more motivated to take care of their health than patients who do not use such services; this characteristic cannot be directly measured in electronic databases. We provide two estimates of the comparative effectiveness of mail order pharmacy use vs. local KPNC pharmacy use on LDL-C levels; first, using a difference-in-differences approach 22,23 , and then using the econometric technique of instrumental variables 15,[24][25][26][27] . A probit model was used to examine the "difference in differences" in pre and post LDL-C control levels between mail order pharmacy and local KPNC pharmacy users, adjusting for patient, clinical, and census-block characteristics [22][23][24] .…”

“…We provide two estimates of the comparative effectiveness of mail order pharmacy use vs. local KPNC pharmacy use on LDL-C levels; first, using a difference-in-differences approach 22,23 , and then using the econometric technique of instrumental variables 15,[24][25][26][27] . A probit model was used to examine the "difference in differences" in pre and post LDL-C control levels between mail order pharmacy and local KPNC pharmacy users, adjusting for patient, clinical, and census-block characteristics [22][23][24] . The last LDL-C value in the 12 months immediately prior to new statin dispensing was considered the "pre" value, and the last LDL-C value measured in the 3-15 month period after the first new statin dispensing was considered the "post" value.…”

Selection of private or public hospital care: examining the care-seeking behaviour of patients with private health insurance

“…Having PHI cover is desirable as it provides patients with more choices regarding doctors, type of services and reduced waiting times while protecting patients from additional healthcare expenditures not covered by 'Medicare' [3,6]. Hence, following van Gameren [24], the consumption of health services by a patient (with PHI cover) from a utility maximisation perspective can be divided into two parts: consumption of publicly (H pb ) and privately funded healthcare (H pt ). If C is the consumption of all other goods and M is the total income then, the utility maximisation function restricted by income (total expenses are not higher than income) is, Max U C; H pb ; H pt À Á M≥ P pb H pb þ P pt H pt þ P c C where P pb is the price of public health services, P pt is the price of private health services, and P c is the price of all other consumption goods.…”

“…As services in public hospitals can be consumed at low or no cost, patients will avoid private hospital care even if there is an expectation (not actual) of higher premiums in the future (for utilising private care regularly). The availability of publicly funded health coverage increases the opportunity cost (the relative price P pt /P pb ) of using privately funded services; hence, a patient will be more inclined to consume public hospital care [24].…”