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The health insurance market is driven by the individual choices consumers make on their insurance plans. The research presented in this video explores the questions of how consumers choose these plans, whether they are able to pick the plan most suited to their situation and whether they switch to another and better health insurance plan when they have the opportunity to do so. JOACHIM WINTER explains that, after running statistical analyses and conducting experimental surveys, his research group found that consumers do not tend to pick ideal plans because often they focus too much on price and not so much on other cost-influencing factors. The researchers also discovered that switching rates to other plans are very low. These findings have implications for behavioral economics as well since they more generally offer valuable data on consumers’ choice behavior.
      
  
  
      DOI:    
                  https://doi.org/10.21036/LTPUB10435
              Institution
Ludwig Maximilian University Munich (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München)
"LMU Munich is one of the leading universities in Europe. Carrying on a tradition that goes back over 500 years, LMU offers challenging study programs and provides an ideal environment for top-level research. "Introducing LMU" gives an insight into learning and teaching as well as research and life at LMU." ( Source )
      
        
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      Original publication
Consumer-directed Health Care: Can Consumers Look After Themselves?
Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics
      
      Published in 2008
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