In den 90er Jahren wurden die Krankenkassenmärkte in einigen Ländern wettbewerblicher gestaltet. Eine einfache und nahe liegende Strategie, um in einem solchen Markt einen "solidarischen" Ausgleich der Krankheitslasten zu erzielen, sind Obergrenzen für Versicherungsbeiträge. Jedoch birgt...

The U.S. tax policy on health insurance favors only those offered a group insurance through their employers. This policy is highly regressive since the subsidy takes the form of deductions from the progressive tax system. The paper investigates alternatives to the current policy. We find that...

This paper argues that equal per-capita health care premia offer no systematic advantage as an instrument of financing the welfare state. Either will simultaneous changes in the tax system be necessary to compensate their redistributive effects, in which case all efficiency gains derived from a...

This paper deals with the phenomenon of risk-selection and its appearance in the german compulsory health insurance market since the adoption of the so-called "Gesundheitsstrukturgesetz" of 1992. Further, the "Risikostrukturausgleich" as well as other measures are discussed as instruments of...

In recent years, consumer choice has become an important element of public policy. One reason is that consumers differ in their tastes and needs, which they can express most easily through their own choices. Elements that strengthen consumer choice feature prominently in the design of public...

The new Medicare Part D program provides prescription drug coverage for older Americans through highly subsidized and tightly regulated plans offered by private insurance firms. For most eligible individuals without coverage from other sources, obtaining Part D coverage would be rational, but it...

Given heterogeneity in incomes and health risks, with asymmetric information in the latter, preferences over the public-private mix in health insurance and care are derived. Results concerning crowding-out in the presence of adverse selection are established. For low-risk individuals,...