De Donder, Philippe, Boyer, Martin, Fluet, Claude-Denys, Michaud, Pierre-Carl and Leroux, Marie-Louise (2024) La mauvaise perception des risques de longévité et de dépendance ne suffit pas à expliquer la faiblesse du marché de l'assurance dépendance (au Canada). Revue d'économie financière (n°152).

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Abstract

This article studies the some of the reasons underlying the under-provision of LTC insurance in Québec and Ontario. Using 2016 survey data, we demonstrate that misperception biases regarding demographic risks (of mortality and of dependency) cannot alone explain the low demand for this insurance product. Even if individual perceptions of these risks are heterogenous, individuals tend on average to over-estimate their survival probability and the probability of entering a LTC home, which should lead to over-insurance rather than to under-insurance for LTC. We show instead that the most probable reason for the under-provision of LTC insurance is that individuals do not know this financial product. Hence, if policy makers were to foster the purchase of LTC insurance, they should run advertising campaigns to inform the public about these products. Another interesting policy could be to develop bundled insurance products.