TY - JOUR
T1 - Health insurance doesn't seem to discourage prevention among diabetes patients in Colombia
AU - Trujillo, Antonio J.
AU - Ortiz, Andres Ignacio Vecino
AU - Gómez, Fernando Ruiz
AU - Steinhardt, Laura C.
PY - 2010/12
Y1 - 2010/12
N2 - In the South American nation of Colombia, as elsewhere, patients with type 2 diabetes often avoid care that could prevent their condition from worsening. Availability of health insurance may play a role in explaining this behavior. Some patients with diabetes skip preventive measures because they have insurance and calculate that they can access curative services later in life. Insurers may limit preventive services coverage because they can't be assured of sharing in the eventual savings that emerge when a chronic condition such as diabetes is managed properly. Our analysis of a nationally representative sample of Colombians who have type 2 diabetes and who pay premiums into the country's "contributory" insurance program, found no evidence that insurance influences those individuals to avoid preventive services. The evidence is less clear for those participating in a different, fully subsidized insurance program, who-despite the availability of preventive care-are no more likely to seek preventive visits than are uninsured patients. We propose controlled experiments to identify and measure the true causal effects of insurance on prevention and, more broadly, steps to increase patients' understanding of the benefits of prevention.
AB - In the South American nation of Colombia, as elsewhere, patients with type 2 diabetes often avoid care that could prevent their condition from worsening. Availability of health insurance may play a role in explaining this behavior. Some patients with diabetes skip preventive measures because they have insurance and calculate that they can access curative services later in life. Insurers may limit preventive services coverage because they can't be assured of sharing in the eventual savings that emerge when a chronic condition such as diabetes is managed properly. Our analysis of a nationally representative sample of Colombians who have type 2 diabetes and who pay premiums into the country's "contributory" insurance program, found no evidence that insurance influences those individuals to avoid preventive services. The evidence is less clear for those participating in a different, fully subsidized insurance program, who-despite the availability of preventive care-are no more likely to seek preventive visits than are uninsured patients. We propose controlled experiments to identify and measure the true causal effects of insurance on prevention and, more broadly, steps to increase patients' understanding of the benefits of prevention.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79953795125&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=79953795125&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1377/hlthaff.2010.0463
DO - 10.1377/hlthaff.2010.0463
M3 - Letter
C2 - 21134918
AN - SCOPUS:79953795125
SN - 0278-2715
VL - 29
SP - 2180
EP - 2188
JO - Health Affairs
JF - Health Affairs
IS - 12
ER -