Research axes

In 2010, the Chair is partner of 22 research projects, organized into five research axes.

Health Insurance systems

This axis concerns the organization of health insurance in health systems. It analyzes the type of organizations “regulated competition” which exist in Switzerland, Netherlands and Germany. The influence of supplementary insurance on properties of regulated competition is studied, as well as the regulation of health care networks integrated into insurance. A project focuses on the implementation of systems of health insurance in emerging countries (China).

Regulation of supply for care

This axis focuses on ambulatory care and hospital care. Regarding hospital, we study the payment systems that provide incentives for efficiency in care delivery and for quality of care. We carry out a comparison of productivity between public and private hospitals.
We study also the impact of public diffusion of information relative to the quality of care (hospital ranking published by newpapers). As for ambulatory care, a project examines location choice of GPs, another one studies the doctors’ level of earning. A research studies the functioning of regulation boards stemming out from the doctors themselves and their impact on care quality.

Coverage and Access to Health Care

The topics here relate to issues of inequality. The works focus on inequality of opportunity in health and the relationship between social capital and the demand of care. One also examines the influence of insurance cover on demand of care in the case of minorities in California and about the evolution of access to health care in China. A project develops an experimentation to evaluate the French policy that gives a subsidy to encourage the subscription of a contract for complementary health insurance.

 Value of health and health costs

In this axis, we are interested in measuring the value of health. Thanks to the financial support from the Health Chair, a contingent valuation survey has been conducted covering 3000 individuals. This survey makes it possible to estimate the healthy-equivalent-income on a representative sample of French population. The healthy-equivalent-income is a powerful tool for measuring inequality that integrates both the dimension of income and health.
We can also deduce from this survey a measure of the value given to health. With the estimation of a health production function, these results should help to build a diagnosis on the optimal level of health expenditure in France. Another project is more methodological, and studies how to correct the hypothetical bias in preference elicitation methods.

Population ageing and health expenditure growth

This axis axis focuses on the impact of demographic ageing on the health expenditure growth, compared to other growth factors such as changes in morbidity and the diffusion of innovative procedures (technological progress). Other themes related to ageing are explored, including financial maltreatment of elderly dependents. A project also examines how cost containment policies performed in Canada could lead to a specific rationing of care for seniors.