If you have to fly three hours to be at the XLIII Conference of the Association of Health Economics (AES) in Tenerife in 2024, the EvaluAES group, without hesitation, set up an EvaluAES roundtable without hesitation. A scientific roundtable for the evaluation of public health policies does not seem like a bad excuse to go down to those latitudes, and so they got to work. Joaquim Vidiella-Martin (Oxford University) and Mario Martinez Jimenez (Imperial College London – Business School), members of the EvaluAES group working committee. This year’s session, moderated by Mario himself, stood out for the quality and relevance of the research presented. In this entry, Joaquim and Mario write the chronicle of the EvaluAES roundtable, which as usual, invites not only authors, but also the always grateful commentators who are the icing on the cake of a scientific session as we like, with a start message For the authors.
Working committee of the EvaluAES group.
Grace Armijos Bravo (University of Specialties Espiritu Santo; Institute of Economics of Barcelona) presented the article «Thresholds for drug possession, consumption and newborn health«, commented by Victoria Serra Tailor (City, University of London). In her study, Grace analyzed a policy that demonstrated permits for self-consumption quantities of illicit drugs with the goal of not criminalizing illicit drug users, implemented in Ecuador in 2013. Such a policy could potentially increase the availability of illicit drugs. In this study, Grace assessed whether this measure could negatively affect the health of newborns.
Using a difference-in-differences approach and comparing provinces with different degrees of exposure to banned substances before the introduction of the policy, she found that the proportion of low birth weight newborns increased significantly in the most drug-exposed provinces after the introduction of the policy in question. In addition, a significant increase in substance use was documented in both women and men. These results suggest that the increase in drug use could be one of the factors affecting the health of newborns in the most exposed provinces.
Victoria Serra-Sastre was the first commentator of the session, praising the work of Grace Armijos Bravo..
Marcos Vera Hernandez (University College London) presented the article Health care cost-sharing may increase adult mortality: evidence from Colombiacommented by Laia Maynou (University of Barcelona). In this analysis of the impact of copayment on healthcare in Colombia, using monthly individual-level data from the formal sector between 2011 and 2018, the study employed a dynamic regression discontinuity model. The results show that higher copayment decreases healthcare use in the short term, but increases missed diagnoses of chronic conditions, which in the long term increases hospital care utilization and, ultimately, mortality.
Marcos Vera-Hernández and Laia Maynou were the presenter and commentator, respectively, of the second work of the EvaluAES session.
Helena Hernandez-Pizarro (TecnoCampus Mataró) presented the article Stay or go: a comparison of institutional and home care options for older people with long-term care needswhich was commented by Mario Martinez-Jimenez (Imperial College London – Business School). Helena presented a comparison between institutional care and home care for older people with long-term care (LTC) needs in Spain. Using administrative data on LTC claimants in Catalonia and applying difference-in-difference methods with propensity scores, the study found no significant effect of care type on the probability of hospitalization, especially for planned and avoidable hospitalizations. However, a slight decrease in the probability of emergency hospitalization will be observed three years after receiving LTC benefits for individuals with moderate needs. These findings contribute to the discussion on the implications of LTC systems that allow freedom of choice in the type of care.
Mario Martínez-Jiménez was in charge of commenting on the article presented by Helena Hernández-Pizarro.
The EvaluAES session of the XLIII AES Conference provided important findings that contribute to the debate on public health policies. The research presented offered robust evidence on the effects of drug policies, LTC care options and copayment in health care, highlighting the importance of considering these findings in the design of health policies.
