Health insurance plans: An analysis of care costs and their components

Abstract

The objective of this work is to contribute to the investigation into health costs, by analyzing the evolution of the cost of medical care in health plans in Brazil, considering the marked difference between the categories of contract available. To do so, the information published by the National Supplementary Health Agency (AINS) is used. The variation indices are estimated, using the value indices methodology and its two components, price (average cost per event) and quantity (use frequency). What stands out in the results is that the average cost indices per event have varied more that the quantity indices, a fact which indicates how important it is to research health inflation in more depth. © 2009 RAE.