Physician Organization and Quality of Care

Previous studies have found that paitents of staff/group model HMOs consistently report lower quality of care than patients of Network HMOs.  The finding of Rodriguez et al. (2009) contradicts these assumptions.  They find the following: Physicians belonging to integrated medical groups had better performance on the communication and care coordination measures. Physicians belonging to medical…

Do for-profit hospitals reduce safety net services?

Social safety net services are necessary, but often unprofitable for hospitals. Is the expansion of HMOs and for-profit hospitals jeopardizing these safety net servies? This is the question researcher Yu-Chu Shen investigates. To test this hypothesis, Shen examines how changes in the market share of HMOs and for-profit HMOs affects probability of shutting down following…

Universal Coverage in Thailand

Puenpatom and Rosenman (2008) examine universal health coverage in Thailand: “In 2001 Thailand became the first developing country to introduce universal health insurance coverage (UC). Six of 76 provinces adopted UC in April 2001, while the remaining provinces implemented UC in October of that year. One of the key elements of the program is capitated-based…

How to pay for health reform: Taxes

The New York Times is reporting that “to pay for a sweeping overhaul of the health care system, House Democrats will propose a surtax on individuals earning $280,000 and up and couples earning more than $350,000.”  Now, taxes in and of themselves need not be distortionary.  Let us assume that your employer takes $10,000 from…

Job Stretch

In this blog, I have frequently discussed the concept of Job Lock.  Job Lock occurs when you don’t leave a job that you wish to leave (either because it is low paying or you do not like the work) simply because you do not want to lose your health insurance.  Leaving your current job for…