The effects of the economic recession on spending on private health insurance in Spain.

The paper seeks to analyse the evolution of expenditure on private health insurance (PHI) in Spain. We consider the factors that influence PHI demand and level of spending before and during the economic recession, along with identifying the effect of the recession on these factors. The data is obtained from the Spanish Family Budget Survey (SFBS) for 2006 and 2012. Due to the data structure and the demand function, the analysis is performed using a sample selection model in order to avoid sample selection bias. We estimate three models: a pre-recession model (2006), a model for the recession period (2012) and a third one covering both periods (2006 and 2012) and where we include a dummy variable that establishes the effect of the economic recession. The results show that the effect of the economic recession on PHI demand is not significant, but it is on the level of spending.