Moral Hazard in Government Health Programs - New Evidence from Georgia

Authors

  • Alexander Rakviashvili The University of Georgia
  • Egnate Shamugia The University of Georgia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.62343/cjss.2023.232

Keywords:

Healthcare Moral hazard, Cost sharing, Copayment hospitalization

Abstract

In this paper, we studied the moral hazard in healthcare. As part of the analysis, we looked at 126.3 thousand hospitalization cases in the Georgian healthcare system in 2018-2019. According to the group of diagnoses, we compared the length of stay of inpatients funded under government programs with the cases covered by a pocket of patients or private insurance companies. As a result of the study, we found that the length of stay under the universal health care program is, on average, 0.26 days (CI 95%; [0.22-0.30]) longer than in other circumstances. The difference is statistically significant (t = -12.58; P<.05). Thus, our result is the empirical evidence of theoretical reasoning that predicts an increase in the moral hazard under the government healthcare program.

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Published

30.12.2023

How to Cite

Rakviashvili, A., & Shamugia, E. (2023). Moral Hazard in Government Health Programs - New Evidence from Georgia. Caucasus Journal of Social Sciences, 16(1), 122–140. https://doi.org/10.62343/cjss.2023.232

Issue

Vol. 16 No. 1 (2023)

Section

Research papers

License

Copyright (c) 2023 Alexander Rakviashvili, Egnate Shamugia

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