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WITHDRAWN: The Effects of Expanding Coverage for Cancer Treatment: Evidence from Chile's Health Reform
Pablo Celhay, The University of Chicago Keywords: Health Reform; Policy Evaluation; Hospital Discharges; Differences in Differences; Chile We study the effects of a recent health reform in Chile that ensures coverage of treatment for a subset of health conditions considered a priority by the government of Chile in 2005. Using time series data on all hospitalizations and deaths in the country from 2001 to 2012, we are able to study different outcomes for all types of cancers covered by the reform and types of cancers not included in the list of conditions. The pre-reform trends between cancers covered and not covered are remarkably similar, which allows us to implement a difference-in-difference estimator to identify an Intention to Treat effect of the reform on different outcomes. In particular, our results show the expansion of treatment coverage led to a reduction in the hospitalization rate and an increase in the probability of having a surgery when hospitalized. We find no effects on length of stay or mortality at discharge. Preliminary findings show the reform increased age at death for cancers included in the reform. Future work will include an analysis of the heterogeneity by type of hospital and health center of reference.
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