The informational content of subjective expectations for health service use.

ABSTRACT:

Background

This study aims to evaluate the informational content of people's subjective probability expectations for using various health services.

Methods

Using a sample of 1,528 Australian adults (25-64 years), I compared stated probabilities of visiting various health service providers (hospitals, dentists, optometrists, physiotherapists and related care providers, naturopaths and massage therapists) with past utilization and with predicted utilization estimated out-of-sample. I also estimated whether past utilization and subjective expectations were predicted by the same covariates. Finally, I estimated whether subjective expectations had predictive power for the choice to purchase private health insurance conditional on past utilization and other controls.

Results

SUBMITTER: Kettlewell N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8130259 | biostudies-literature | 2021 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature