Patient Payment and Unhealthy Behavior: A Comparison across European Countries

Introduction. Prior research has documented that unhealthy behaviors result in greater health care use and greater health care costs. However, there are few studies on out-of-pocket expenditure paid by those engaging in unhealthy behaviors. We provide cross-country evidence on the association of smoking, alcohol consumption, and obesity with health care use and health care cost as well as out-of-pocket payments among the elderly in Europe. Method. Using SHARE dataset for 13 European countries, the study uses a sequential logit model to analyze use and payments for outpatient and inpatient health care service in addition to a two-part model for the analysis of use and payments for prescribed drugs. Results. Former smoking is associated with a higher rate of health care use. However, current smoking is associated with lower health care use. Former smoking is also associated with paying higher amount of out-of-pocket payments. Alcohol consumption is associated with lower health care use. Conclusion. We do not find systematic evidence that unhealthy behaviors among elderly (50+) are associated with more utilization of health care and more out-of-pocket payments. The results can be of interest for policies that aim to make people more responsible toward their health behaviors.