Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
The answer: sometimes. A study by Dafny (2009) finds that in markets with ten or more insurers, markets do seem to be competitive. However, with six or less insurers, health insurers do have some market power due to switching costs. “Using data on ‘fully insured’ health plans offered to employees of 184 publicly-held firms in…
For individuals who have recently lost their job, Carolyn’s Blog advises them how to get health insurance coverage. “Unless you have a pre-existing condition you should only stick with COBRA until you find a private health insurance plan. Believe it or not, if you go with a High Deductible Health Care Plan (HDHP) for a…
Using real world data is fraught with complexity. Wouldn’t it be nice to randomly change government regulations and see how people react? A paper by Stephen Rassenti and Carl Johnston use a laboratory experiment to do just that. In the experiment, survey participants are in charge of running a firm. The firm must decide if it will provide…
If you get sick and have a non-group health insurance plan, your premiums will increase. When you think about it, this really doesn’t make much sense. The concept of ‘health insurance’ is that it is supposed to protect your assets in the case where your health deteriorates. John Cochrane proposes one solution: the creation of…
Last month, I blogged about allowing a government-sponsored health plan to compete with private insurers. Joe Paduda gives one argument in favor of a public health insurer that any economist would love: increased competition. “The reality today is that almost every market is already dominated by a very few health plans, so much so that…
In the run-up of real estate and stock market prices, demand for labor in the construction, real estate, finance industry was high. With the drastic drop in real estate and stock market prices, the demand for loan officers, construction workers and investment bankers has dropped. Individuals who have been laid must find a new job.…
A recent report from Cover the Insured.org reviews the how health insurance trends have evolved over the last ten to fifteen years. The percent of uninsured individuals has increased from 16.0% of the population in 1995 to 17.5% of the population in 2006. The increase is entirely due to the increase in uninsurance among working…
In 2004, 29% of Medicare enrollees had Medigap coverage. Are these policies priced efficiently? An NBER paper by Maestas, Schroeder and Goldman (2009) argues that the answer is no. Prior to July 1992, Medigap was minimally regulated. With the passage of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 (implemented in July 1992), Medigap plans…
In the Netherlands, the Health Insurance Act of 2006 mandates that all individuals have health insurance. Health insurance is provided by the private sector and these private health insurers can charge any premium they please. The government does provide some risk-adjusted payment to the insurance companies. This means that the state gives insurance company more…
“If you do not have insurance you can choose to enroll in the new public plan, which will offer benefits similar to what every federal employee and member of Congress gets. Or you can choose private plan options…” Barack Obama.com Should the government develop a health plan that would compete with private health plans? Thomas Rice thinks…