In the USA, previous to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, about 50 million people under 65 years didnt́ have any (private or public) health insurance. A lot of them have been temporally insured via an employer sponsored group insurance. Because of the linkage to the job, group...

This article examines the choice of health care in Japan by patients suffering from the common cold. Original data were obtained from a survey conducted by the authors. Empirical results show that the price elasticity of demand for medical services is between 0.23 and 0.36. This estimated price...

With increasing burden of chronic diseases in India and the consequent increase in private expenditure on health care, the inability of poor households to meet healthcare cost is leading to increasing impoverishment on account of unanticipated health shocks. In the absence of an adequate and an...

We investigate the introduction of a Consumer Directed Health Plan (CDHP) in 2005 at a large, self-insured employer. Our relatively long panel enables us to observe utilization and spending for two years prior and four years after the introduction of the CDHP, enabling us to control for...

This paper compares health care systems. It looks beyond normal academic, political, or journalistic rhetoric, by exactly sticking to facts, i.e. empirical data (in particular data provided by the WHO) and comprehensive case study analyses. The paper finds that a number of myths and common...

This presentation uses MEPS data to compare and assess the part-year and full-year uninsured rates for different age groups. Four empirical questions are considered:(1) How and why do adult and child part-year and full-year insurance coverage rates and trends differ?(2) How does family income of...

We study optimal risk adjustment in imperfectly competitive health insurance markets when high-risk consumers are less likely to switch insurer than low-risk consumers. First, we find that insurers still have an incentive to select even if risk adjustment perfectly corrects for cost differences...

Social protection systems in developing countries are typically composed of a bundle of benefits, the major ones being health insurance and pensions. Benefit bundling may increase informality and decrease welfare. Indeed, if some of the benefits are valued at substantially less than their cost,...

In the new state-run Health Insurance Exchanges created as part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), plans with different benefit coverage of health care costs are provided in order to expand consumer choices and increase consumer welfare. According to the ACA, premiums can differ based on...

This paper examines whether offering a health savings account (HSA)-eligible health plan for free, alongside other health plan options with a premium, alters employee enrollment choices; and if responders differ by health status. The data for this study come from two large employers and cover...