Skip to main content

LUP Student Papers

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Free drugs for children! A study on fully subsidized prescription drugs for 17-year-olds in Sweden

Lund, Emma LU (2019) NEKN06 20182
Department of Economics
Abstract
This paper explores the effects of co-payment price reduction to zero for prescribed
pharmaceuticals on the volume of medicine consumed and the price elasticity
for youths. Data was collected from two Swedish national registries on
pharmaceutical consumption and municipality socioeconomic factors for groups
of ages 17 and 19, from January 2013 to June 2018. I use a difference-in-difference
strategy to exploit the exogenous drop in January 2016 of medicine price for minors
and if it differs between socioeconomic groups. The results show an association
between zero price co-payment and increase of prescription drug use. Individuals
living in high income municipalities increased their medical consumption
with 15.2% while individuals... (More)
This paper explores the effects of co-payment price reduction to zero for prescribed
pharmaceuticals on the volume of medicine consumed and the price elasticity
for youths. Data was collected from two Swedish national registries on
pharmaceutical consumption and municipality socioeconomic factors for groups
of ages 17 and 19, from January 2013 to June 2018. I use a difference-in-difference
strategy to exploit the exogenous drop in January 2016 of medicine price for minors
and if it differs between socioeconomic groups. The results show an association
between zero price co-payment and increase of prescription drug use. Individuals
living in high income municipalities increased their medical consumption
with 15.2% while individuals living in low income municipalities increased
their consumption with 14.5% due to the free drug reform. The price elasticity is
greater for individuals living in high income municipalities, -0.120, than living
in low income municipalities -0.110. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Lund, Emma LU
supervisor
organization
course
NEKN06 20182
year
type
H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
subject
keywords
pharmaceuticals, co-payment, zero price, price elasticity, average price elasticity
language
English
id
8973311
date added to LUP
2019-03-25 08:49:46
date last changed
2019-03-25 08:49:46
@misc{8973311,
  abstract     = {{This paper explores the effects of co-payment price reduction to zero for prescribed
pharmaceuticals on the volume of medicine consumed and the price elasticity
for youths. Data was collected from two Swedish national registries on
pharmaceutical consumption and municipality socioeconomic factors for groups
of ages 17 and 19, from January 2013 to June 2018. I use a difference-in-difference
strategy to exploit the exogenous drop in January 2016 of medicine price for minors
and if it differs between socioeconomic groups. The results show an association
between zero price co-payment and increase of prescription drug use. Individuals
living in high income municipalities increased their medical consumption
with 15.2% while individuals living in low income municipalities increased
their consumption with 14.5% due to the free drug reform. The price elasticity is
greater for individuals living in high income municipalities, -0.120, than living
in low income municipalities -0.110.}},
  author       = {{Lund, Emma}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Free drugs for children! A study on fully subsidized prescription drugs for 17-year-olds in Sweden}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}