Copayments for doctor visits in Germany and the probability of visiting a physician - Evidence from a natural experiment
b'The German health care reform of 2004 imposes a charge of 10 Euro for the \\ufb01rst visit to a doctor in each\\nquarter of the year. At \\ufb01rst glance, there is no inhibiting effect of this fee on utilization in the German\\nSocio-Economic Panel. However, this study reveals that the true effect is diluted by a special characteristic\\nof the fee. Exploiting random variation in the interview date, this study \\ufb01nds a substantial effect of the new\\nfee on the probability of visiting a physician. In addition, the identi\\ufb01cation strategy makes it possible to\\ndisentangle this effect from the in\\ufb02uence of the contemporaneous increase of copayments for prescription\\ndrugs.'