Abstract: Health insurance coverage reduces the price perceived by the insured and consequently increases the quantity of health care demanded. We consider vision care insurance because this provides a unique opportunity to observe the differential response to insurance coverage by those with and without a prior medical condition. The results show that there is a response by both groups and the response is larger for those with a prior condition. We also find that vision care insurance is poorly matched in time to the patterns of vision care needs
Keywords: Health Insurance, Vision Care, Prior Conditions
JEL Classification: I10, I12