Governments in many low- and middle-income countries are developing health insurance products as a complement to tax-funded, subsidized provision of health care through publicly operated facilities. This paper discusses two rationales for this transition. First, health insurance would boost...

Das Bundesministerium für Gesundheit hat die Verfasser mit dem Gutachten zur Umsetzung und empirischen Abschätzung der Übergangsregelungen zur Einführung des Gesundheits-fonds (§ 272 SGB V) beauftragt. Die Verfasser haben am 01. April 2008 den Entwurf des Gutachtens vorgelegt. Es bestand...

This paper investigates competition between health insurance companies under different financing regulations. We consider two alternatives advanced in recent German health care reform discussions: competition by contribution rates (health contributions) and by fees (health premia). We find that...