FEDERALISM AND REGIONAL HEALTH CARE EXPENDITURES: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS FOR THE SWISS CANTONS published in Health Economics, 2006/15: 535–541

Switzerland (7.2 million inhabitants) is a federal state composed of 26 cantons. The autonomy of cantons and a particular health insurance system create strong heterogeneity in terms of regulation and organisation of health care services. In this study we use a single equation approach to model the per-capita cantonal expenditures on health care services and postulate that per-capita health expenditures depend on some economic, demographic and structural factors. The empirical analysis demonstrates that a larger share of old people tends to increase health costs and that physicians paid on a fee-for-service basis swell expenditures, thus highlighting a possible phenomenon of supply induced demand