An Econometric Analysis of the Impact of Colombia’s Subsidized Health Insurance on Preventative Care Utilization Using Instrumental VariablestextAbarca, Cindy JasmincreatorGalarraga, OmarAdvisorBentkover, JudithReaderBrown University. School of Public Healthsponsor2017vii, 43 p.born digitalThesis (M. P. H.)--Brown University, 2017thesesAn econometric analysis was conducted to evaluate the impact of enrollment to Colombia’s subsidized health insurance regime on the utilization of preventative services (annual doctor and dentist visits) using instrumental variables to correct for endogeneity. This study used the 2015 Encuesta Nacional Calidad de Vida (ECV) survey to conduct a two-stage least square regression (2SLS) with instrumental variables to estimate the program effect among a sample population of N=46,770. The instrumental variables that were examined consisted of: (1) the proportion of individuals that were eligible for affiliation to the Sistema de Identificación de Beneficiarios (SISBEN) I and II by department for the year 2011 and (2) the 1994 presidential election results by department. Selection of the 1994 presidential election results by department was used as an instrumental variable because of the association found between political affiliation of municipalities or departments and enrollment to subsidized health schemes. This association is explained by the municipalities’ ability to adjust the cutoffs for eligibility to the subsidized regime according to the amount of federal funding that the municipalities receive annually. Furthermore, Durbin-Wu-Hausman test of endogeneity, Hansen J-test of overidentification, and F-test for weak instrumental variables were conducted as part of our statistical analysis. The results of our analysis found that enrollment to the subsidized health insurance regime had a positive effect 0.728 (p<0.01) on preventative care utilization compared to the uninsured after removing endogenous variables as part of our sensitivity analysis. These findings suggest that affiliation with the subsidized health schemes or programs can increase an individual’s decision to utilize preventative services. Medical economicsEnglishRPB2017062010.7301/Z01N7ZKSIn CopyrightCollection is open for research.