Effects of Health Insurance Concentration Market on Insurance Coverage in Colombia

This study seeks to contribute to the limited knowledge on the health insurance market in Colombia. Using a database constructed for this purpose, we describe the structure of the health insurance market in Colombia, specifically its two types of insurance, for 33 market areas during the period 2007-2011. Taking as a central concern the role of insurance as a guarantee of access to health services, this study aims to analyze the impact of health insurers' market power on insurance coverage. The principal result verifies the existence of concentrated markets, and insurers have power in those markets in terms of their influence on the level of insurance coverage. This leads to concentrated market structures and thus the exercise of market power by insurers, which constitute potential constraints in access to health services.