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)

Frontiers in Public Health

article

André Hajek¹  Cornelia Enzenbach²  Katarina Stengler³  Heide Glaesmer⁴  Andreas Hinz⁴  Susanne Röhr⁵  Janine Stein⁵  Steffi G. Riedel-Heller⁵  Hans-Helmut König¹ 

[1] Department of Health Economics and Health Services Research, Hamburg Center for Health Economics, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf;Institute for Medical Informatics, University of Leipzig;Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Helios Park Hospital Leipzig;Department of Medical Psychology and Sociology, University of Leipzig;Institute of Social Medicine, Occupational Health and Public Health, University of Leipzig

关键词: health insurance;    willingness to pay;    personality;    big five;    LIFE-Adult-Study;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpubh.2020.00456

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Objective: To investigate which factors are associated with the willingness to pay (WTP) for health insurance. Methods: The analysis ( n = 1,248 individuals) is based on data of a large population-based study—the Health Study of the Leipzig Research Centre for Civilization Diseases (LIFE-Adult-Study). With regard to WTP for health insurance, a contingent valuation method with a payment card was used. Several explanatory variables were included. For example, personality factors (in terms of agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism, and openness to experience) were assessed using the NEO-16 Adjective Measure. Results: Average WTP for health insurance per month equaled about €240 which corresponds to ~14% of household net equivalent income. Multiple regressions showed that an increased WTP was associated with lower age (β = −1.7, p < 0.001), higher (log) household net equivalent income (β = 153.6, p < 0.001), higher social support (β = 2.0, p < 0.05), and private health insurance (β = 131.1, p < 0.001). Furthermore, an increased WTP for health insurance was associated with higher openness to experience (β = 10.1, p < 0.05), whereas it was not associated with agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and neuroticism. Conclusion: The quite large amount of average WTP for health insurance may suggest that individuals accept current contributions to health insurances and would probably accept higher contributions. While previous studies mainly focused on individuals in late life, we identified a link between socioeconomic, health-related factors, and personality factors (in terms of openness to experience) and WTP in the general adult population.

【 授权许可】

CC BY