More Public Funding? A Choice Experiment on the Healthcare Funding System for Older Populations

Speaker(s)

Mori T
Konan University, Kyoto, Japan

OBJECTIVES: The demand for healthcare for the older population is growing. The funding system and public–private mixture of healthcare has been shaped by various factors. This study elicited the public preferences for the healthcare funding system for older populations and examined the heterogeneity of preferences by classifying individuals into groups with similar preferences.

METHODS: Data were obtained from recruited participants among Japanese people aged 20 years or older who were registered with the survey panel managed by NTT Com. Online Marketing Solutions, Inc., a consumer research company. The experiments, which comprised a sample of 1,112 individuals, focused on the need for public funding. Using a random parameter probit model, the study valued several insurance attributes, namely, the share of public funding, income equity, intergenerational equity, and the local or national burden. In addition, the latent class type of DCE was used to reveal the heterogeneity of public preferences.

RESULTS: The results show that the public overall has a negative preference for an increase in public funding and positive preferences for an income-proportional burden, universal burden regardless of age, and an increase in the national government burden relative to the local burden. However, the latent class responded heterogeneously to insurance choices. For example, the latent segment comprising 23% of the total sample—the second-largest group consisting mainly of young males—preferred a greater increase in public funding.

CONCLUSIONS: Several studies have analyzed public preferences on healthcare financing in developed countries. In this study, the public preferred equal burdens regardless of age. This finding was observed in similar research in other countries.

Code

HPR97

Topic

Health Policy & Regulatory

Topic Subcategory

Health Disparities & Equity, Insurance Systems & National Health Care, Pricing Policy & Schemes, Public Spending & National Health Expenditures

Disease

No Additional Disease & Conditions/Specialized Treatment Areas