Abstract
Decision-making regarding healthcare expenditure hinges heavily on an individual's health status and the certainty about the future. This study uses data on propensity of general health exam (GHE) spending to show that despite the debate on the necessity of GHE, its objective is clear—to obtain more information and certainty about one’s health so as to minimise future risks. Most studies on this topic, however, focus only on factors associated with GHE uptake and overlook the shifts in behaviours and attitudes regarding different levels of cost. To fill the gap, this study analyses a dataset of 2068 subjects collected from Hanoi (Vietnam) and its vicinities using the baseline-category logit method. We evaluate the sensitivity of Vietnamese healthcare consumers against two groups of factors (demographic and socioeconomic-cognitive) regarding payment for periodic GHE, which is not covered by insurance. Our study shows that uninsured, married and employed individuals are less sensitive to cost than their counterparts because they value the information in reducing future health uncertainty. The empirical results challenge the objections to periodic health screening by highlighting its utility. The relevance of behavioural economics is further highlighted through a look at the bounded rationality of healthcare consumers and private insurance companies in using and providing the service, respectively.
Highlights
Attempts to dissect healthcare service expenditures as part of some behavioural trends are often obscured by the fact that individual behaviours occur under specific conditions and with private information and assessment
This study looks into the data of a specific healthcare spending: general health examinations (GHE)
The analysis focuses on the sensitivity of Vietnamese healthcare consumers’ willing payments for GHE against two groups of factors, namely demographic and socioeconomic-cognitive, as this service is not covered by Vietnam’s health insurance (International Cooperation Department, 2017)
Summary
Attempts to dissect healthcare service expenditures as part of some behavioural trends are often obscured by the fact that individual behaviours occur under specific conditions and with private information and assessment. This study looks into the data of a specific healthcare spending: general health examinations (GHE). While it seems rational to regularly check one’s health to timely deal with the onset of an unexpected illness, the practice of periodic GHE is a rather modern phenomenon. The beginning of GHE could be traced back to the British physician Horace Dobell in 1861 when he sought a measure to monitor the health status of patients with tuberculosis (Dobell, 1961). The analysis focuses on the sensitivity of Vietnamese healthcare consumers’ willing payments for GHE against two groups of factors, namely demographic and socioeconomic-cognitive, as this service is not covered by Vietnam’s health insurance (International Cooperation Department, 2017). The study is limited in its geographical scope, it seeks to shed light on the behaviours of healthcare consumers in general when thinking about measures to minimise future risks
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