They can't or they don't want to? on the decision of treatment of chronic diseases in Chile

Abstract

We provide pioneer evidence about the determinants of treatment of three chronic conditions in Chile. By exploiting a rich database, we are able to include non-cognitive characteristics as one of the many determinants of this decision. We find that some people can’t and some people don’t want to go under treatment. Both descriptive and econometric analysis are consistent in showing that there exists substantial heterogeneity across diseases. The evidence shows that there is little but significant effect of risk aversion and self-control in the decision of treatment of depression and diabetes, and no effect for hypertension. Male population with worse self-control levels and more risk-seeking behavior tend to show smaller treatment rates for diabetes. We also find that health insurance is not a relevant dimension for this decision, being this previously documented by empirical literature.