The study examines how social and health care client fees and deductibles, as well as their potential and actual changes, affect public finances and the economic well-being of different population groups in Finland.
Goals
- Investigate how client fees and deductibles in social and health care, as well as their potential and actual changes, affect public finances, the livelihood of different population groups, and the use of social assistance together with other social security benefits.
- Assess how legislative changes affect the use of social and health services and the consumption of medicines.
- Examine the income‑equalizing effect of public social and health care expenditures.
Implementation
In the first phase of the project (2019–2023), the SOTE-SISU microsimulation model was developed and it for the first time enabled an analysis of the overall effects of legislative changes in health care expenditures on household social and health care costs and economic well-being, together with changes in social security and taxation.
In the continuation phase of the project (2023–2028), the focus is on the distributional impacts of health care expenditures and evaluate the effects of reforms carried out by past and future governments in a more comprehensive way.
The research is conducted in collaboration with the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela) and the Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. In the study, Statistics Finland's SISU microsimulation model has been expanded with administrative register data on the utilization of social and health services and on health care costs reimbursed by Kela. This extension allows us to analyse client fees in public social and health services, as well as out-of-pocket costs for medicines, health-related travel, and private health care.
Funding
Kela, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Finnish Institute of Health and Welfare (THL)
Partners
Kela, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health
Contact details
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