Private and Public Financing of Health Care with Wait Times

The two-tier public/private health care system in Québec emerged after the Supreme Court’s 2005 decision in Chaoulli v. Quebec. In the wake of Chaoulli, Québec enacted Bill 33 which, to a limited extent, opened to the door to private insurance. An important public policy question arises: what is the societal impact of the increased access to private health care and how can the public health care system best cope with the resulting changes? This talk outlines methods for assessing the welfare impacts of the two-tier health care. In particular, it investigates the role of information asymmetry in the strategic interactions between the public and private health care systems.

Wei Xie is a PhD student in SPPA.