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Coinsurance effects on dental prices
Social Science & Medicine (1982)
|January 1, 1986
Summary
Dental insurance, specifically coinsurance, has a limited impact on dental service prices for insured adults. Non-price factors like time costs and market area play a more significant role in influencing dental fees.
Area of Science:
- Health Economics
- Dental Public Health
- Health Services Research
Background:
- High dental service costs are a significant barrier to regular dental care and oral health maintenance for many Americans.
- The expansion of dental insurance may mitigate these cost barriers for insured individuals.
- Understanding the price dynamics of dental services is crucial for policymakers and consumers.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between coinsurance rates and the prices of 16 different dental services.
- To analyze how patient and market factors influence dental service costs among insured individuals.
- To determine the impact of dental insurance on patient price sensitivity.
Main Methods:
- Utilized Pennsylvania Blue Shield (PBS) adult insured claims data from 1980.
- Incorporated coinsurance rate data and a mail survey of sampled insureds.
- Employed Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression analysis to model dental prices.
Main Results:
- The independent variables in the model explained minimal variation in dental prices.
- No single variable was consistently significant across all 16 dental services.
- Market area, coinsurance rates, and time costs emerged as significant factors in specific service equations.
Conclusions:
- Coinsurance and time costs influence dental fees for a subset of dental services among adult insureds.
- Dental insurance appears to decrease patient sensitivity to monetary price.
- Non-price factors gain importance in patient decision-making when insurance reduces direct cost exposure.