This paper investigates consumer switching costs in the context of health insurance markets, where adverse selection is a potential concern. Though previous work has studied these phenomena in isolation, they interact in a way that directly impacts market outcomes and consumer welfare. Our...

We examine the effects of the most durable employer health insurance mandate in the United States, Hawaii's Prepaid Health Care Act, using Current Population Survey data covering the years 1979 to 2005. Relying on a variation of the classical Fisher permutation test applied across states, we...

Abstract:We develop a model where a free genetic test reveals whether the individual tested has a low or high probability of developing a disease. A costly prevention effort allows high-risk agents to decrease the probability of developing the disease. Agents are not obliged to take the test,...

Based on the notion that good health is one of the basic right of all citizens, the Government of Indonesia (GoI) has promoted programs on health care financing for the poor. One of these programs is the Jaminan Pemeliharaan Kesehatan (JPK). In 2003, the pilot project on JPK for the poor...

Based on the notion that good health is one of the basic right of all citizens, the Government of Indonesia (GoI) has promoted programs on health care financing for the poor. One of these programs is the Jaminan Pemeliharaan Kesehatan (JPK). In 2003, the pilot project on JPK for the poor...

Long-term care expenditures constitute one of the largest uninsured financial risks facing the elderly in the United States and thus play a central role in determining the retirement security of elderly Americans. In this essay, we begin by providing some background on the nature and extent of...

In France, people obtain basic health insurance coverage through a public health insurance system. Although public coverage is comprehensive, substantial co-payments and deductibles are more and more required and individuals become increasingly dependant on private complementary health...

How has the economic risk of health spending changed over time for U.S. households? We describe trends in aggregate health spending in the United States and how private insurance markets and public insurance programs have changed over time. We then present evidence from Consumer Expenditure...

In the Medicare program, increases in cost sharing by a supplemental insurer can exert financial externalities. We study a policy change that raised patient cost sharing for the supplemental insurer for retired public employees in California. We find that physician visits and prescription drug...

Substantial uncertainty exists regarding the causal effect of health insurance on the utilization of care. Most studies cannot determine whether the large differences in healthcare utilization between the insured and the uninsured are due to insurance status or to other unobserved differences...