Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
Is regional variation in health care spending larger for Medicare beneficiaries or those enrolled in private health plans? Before answering that question, one should better understand the sources of this variation. Regional variation in spending can be due to variation in the utilization, variation in prices, or both. A paper by Philipson et al. (2010)…
Regional differences in the cost of health care are due to differences in both the price and volume of medical care. Since, Medicare sets prices, there should be little variation in prices…right? Actually, Medicare payments have geographic adjustments based on a number of factors. For instances, the hospital wage index gives pay hospitals more in…
As mentioned in previous posts, most health insurance in the France public health care system involves significant copayments. While this helps to reduce the moral hazard problem, it may prevent poor individuals from utilizing the care they need. In 2000, France introduced free complementary health insurance plan which covers most out-of-pocket payments for the poorest…