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Tax Incentives and the Demand for Private Health Insurance

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Abstract
This paper studies the effect of an individual insurance mandate (Medicare Levy Surcharge) on the demand for private health insurance (PHI) in Australia. It uses the administrative income tax returns data to show that mandate has several distinct effects on taxpayers' behavior. First, despite the large size of the tax penalty for not having PHI cover relative to the cost of the cheapest eligible insurance policy, the compliance with mandate is relatively low: the proportion of population with PHI cover increases by 6.5 percentage points (15.6%) at the income threshold at which the tax penalty starts to apply. This effect is most pronounced for young age taxpayers, while the middle aged people seem to be least responsive to this specific tax incentive. Second, the discontinuous increase in the average tax rate at the income threshold created by the policy generates a strong incentive for tax avoidance which manifests itself through bunching in the taxable income distribution below the threshold. Finally, after imposing some plausible assumptions the effect of the policy is extrapolated to other income levels to show that overall this policy hasn't had a significant impact on the demand for private health insurance in Australia.

Suggested Citation

  • Olena Stavrunova & Oleg Yerokhin, 2013. "Tax Incentives and the Demand for Private Health Insurance," Working Paper Series 16, Economics Discipline Group, UTS Business School, University of Technology, Sydney.
    • Handle: RePEc:uts:ecowps:16
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    File URL: http://www.uts.edu.au/sites/default/files/edg_wp16.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Nguyen, Ha Trong & Mitrou, Francis, 2025. "Natural disasters and the demand for health insurance," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    2. Nguyen, John, 2023. "The impact of private health insurance on household savings : Evidence from Australia," Warwick-Monash Economics Student Papers 48, Warwick Monash Economics Student Papers.
    3. Trinh, Cong Tam & Chao, Chi-Chur & Ho, Nhut Quang, 2023. "Private health insurance consumption and public health-care provision in OECD countries: Impact of culture, finance, and the pandemic," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    4. Mladenovic, Svetlana Sokolov & Milovancevic, Milos & Mladenovic, Igor & Petrovic, Jelena & Milovanovic, Dragan & Petković, Biljana & Resic, Sead & Barjaktarović, Miljana, 2020. "Identification of the important variables for prediction of individual medical costs billed by health insurance," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    5. Gong, Xiaodong & Gao, Jiti, 2015. "Nonparametric Kernel Estimation of the Impact of Tax Policy on the Demand for Private Health Insurance in Australia," IZA Discussion Papers 9265, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Stavrunova, Olena & Yerokhin, Oleg, 2014. "Tax incentives and the demand for private health insurance," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 121-130.
    7. Ha Trong Nguyen & Huong Thu Le & Luke Connelly & Francis Mitrou, 2023. "Accuracy of self‐reported private health insurance coverage," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(12), pages 2709-2729, December.
    8. Mbara, Gilbert & Tyrowicz, Joanna & Kokoszczynski, Ryszard, 2020. "Striking a balance: Optimal tax policy with labor market duality," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    9. Denise Doiron & Nathan Kettlewell, 2020. "Family formation and the demand for health insurance," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(4), pages 523-533, April.
    10. Bíró, Anikó & Hellowell, Mark, 2016. "Public–private sector interactions and the demand for supplementary health insurance in the United Kingdom," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(7), pages 840-847.
    11. Kettlewell, Nathan & Zhang, Yuting, 2024. "Financial incentives and private health insurance demand on the extensive and intensive margins," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    12. Johnson, Shane & Breunig, Robert & Olivo-Villabrille, Miguel & Zaresani, Arezou, 2024. "Individuals’ responsiveness to marginal tax rates: Evidence from bunching in the Australian personal income tax," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    13. Judith Liu & Yuting Zhang, 2023. "Elderly responses to private health insurance incentives: Evidence from Australia," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(12), pages 2730-2744, December.
    14. Ying Zhang & Rui Wang & Xinyi Yao, 2019. "Assessing determinants of health care prepayment in China: Economic growth or government willingness? New evidence from the continuous wavelet analysis," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(1), pages 694-712, January.
    15. Buchmueller, Thomas C. & Cheng, Terence C. & Pham, Ngoc T.A. & Staub, Kevin E., 2021. "The effect of income-based mandates on the demand for private hospital insurance and its dynamics," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    16. Kettlewell, Nathan & Zhang, Yuting, 2023. "Financial Incentives and Private Health Insurance Demand on the Extensive and Intensive Margins," IZA Discussion Papers 16248, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Rezwanul Hasan Rana & Khorshed Alam & Jeff Gow, 2020. "The Impact of Immigration on Public and Out-of-Pocket Health Expenditure in OECD Countries," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 485-508, June.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I13 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Insurance, Public and Private
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

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