When health plans compete under adverse selection, the competitive equilibrium set of contracts is unique. However, the allocation of these contracts among health plans is undetermined. We show that three health plans suffice to sustain an equilibrium where each health plan offers a single...

If the owner of a firm cannot commit ex-ante to monitor his workers and the monitoring technology may accuse a diligent worker of shirking (produce a “false positive”), the lack of commitment problem is extremely severe : the worker may shirk even if monitoring is costless. However, the same...

This expository paper describes the factors that contribute to failure of health insurance markets, and the regulatory mechanisms that have been and can be used to combat these failures. Standardized contracts and creditable coverage mandates are discussed, along with premium support, enrollment...