Health economic evaluation of nation-wide screening programmes for atrial fibrillation in the Netherlands.

Aims: Screening for atrial fibrillation (AF) is recommended by the European Society of Cardiology guidelines to prevent strokes. Cost-effectiveness analyses of different screening programmes for AF are difficult to compare because of varying settings and models used. We compared the impact and cost-effectiveness of various AF screening programmes in the Netherlands.

Consumer price sensitivity in Dutch health insurance.

Aim: To estimate the price sensitivity of consumer choice of health insurance firm.

Method: Using paneldata of the flows of insured between pairs of Dutch sickness funds during the period 1993-2002, we estimate the sensitivity of these flows to differences in insurance premium.

Results: The price elasticity of residual demand for health insurance was low during the period 1993-2002, confirming earlier findings based on annual changes in market share.