Health Economics and Financing Research Profile

Comprehensive Assessment of Reform Efforts (COMPARE)

An interdisciplinary initiative to provide objective, reliable information about the likely effects of proposed health care reforms. Through this project, RAND will provide unbiased assessments of proposed health care reforms to advance the discussion of solutions.
Contact: Elizabeth McGlynn, PhD (Elizabeth_McGlynn@rand.org) or Jeffrey Wasserman, PhD (Jeffrey_Wasserman@rand.org)

Evaluating State Health Care Reforms to Cover All Children

A study that is part of the State Health Access Reform Evaluation (SHARE) program, aimed at developing a coordinated approach to the evaluation of state health care reform and coverage initiatives to provide insurance coverage for all children in the states of Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Washington.
Contact: Carole Roan Gresenz, PhD (Carole_Gresenz@rand.org)

Implementing a National Health Insurance Pooling System

A project to explore the effects of implementing a pooling system that would offer businesses and individuals a structured choice of health insurance plans.
Contact: Melinda Beeuwkes Buntin, PhD (Melinda_Buntin@rand.org)

Health Care Use and Quality in High-Deductible and "Consumer-Directed" Health Plans

An investigation of how new health insurance benefit designs that incorporate financial incentives and information intended to help patients make more cost-conscious health care decisions influence the amount, type, and quality of care used, and how responses differ across population groups, particularly among the sick and the poor.
Contact: Melinda Beeuwkes Buntin, PhD (Melinda_Buntin@rand.org)

Use of Preventive Services and Prescription Drugs in High-Deductible Health Plans

An examination of the relationship between high medical and pharmaceutical cost sharing and the use of prescription drugs and preventive services.
Contact: RAND_Health@rand.org

Assessing the Spillover Effects of Uninsurance on Communities

A study to provide definitive and comprehensive evidence on the existence and size of spillover effects of community uninsurance on the outpatient care received by working-age adults with private insurance, seniors with Medicare coverage, and working-age uninsured adults.
Contact: Carole Roan Gresenz, PhD (Carole_Gresenz@rand.org)

Health Plan Concentration, Costs, and Outcomes

A study to examine the relationship between health plan consolidation and hospital prices, costs, charity care, and outcomes of care.
Contact: RAND_Health@rand.org