Self-insurance rates will increase among small firms only under the hypothetical situation that generous stop-loss policies are available to them after implementation of the ACA. Even if many small firms choose to self insure under this situation, it will not increase the premiums charged in the insurance exchanges by more than a few tenths of a percent.
With the exception of office visits, prices for most common health services don't differ between consumer-directed health plans and traditional plans.
We examined whether access to benefits varies by level of childcare responsibilities among employed parents of children with special health care needs (CSHCN).
Incentives to participate in wellness programs or reach health-related targets are popular, but could expose employers and insurers to litigation risk because incentives might violate state and federal insurance, anti-discrimination, or privacy laws.
Commercial health plans and Medicare are using cost profiles to identify which physicians account for more health care spending than others, while devising strategies to reward those who provide quality care at a lower cost. Doctors with less than 10 years of experience had 13.2 percent higher overall costs than those with 40 or more years of experience.
Quality improvement efforts may be needed to reduce racial/ethnic disparities in beneficiary experience with PD coverage.
This paper evaluates whether health plans in Germany's Social Health Insurance select on an easily observable predictor of risk: geography.
Although four-dollar programs ($4 per 30-day supply for selected generic drugs) have become important options for seniors to obtain affordable medications, little is known about access to these programs and the characteristics of those who use them.
Many states have implemented regulations (commonly referred to as waivers) to increase access to publicly insured services for autism spectrum disorders (ASD).
In this Response, the author sketches two problems with Professor Doug Kysar's argument regarding climate change litigation and effect on tort law.
This commentary presents an overview of the issues associated with how health plans and public Medicaid systems should share in the costs of assessing and treating children with autism.
Policies targeting socioeconomically disadvantaged groups and those without insurance may be needed to reduce disparities in access to appropriate eye care.
ENISA conducted a study identifying possible causes inhibiting the cyber-insurance market in Europe and investigating incentives to kick-start its development.
If consumer-directed health plans grow to account for half of all employer-sponsored insurance in the United States, health costs could drop by $57 billion annually—about 4 percent of all health care spending among the nonelderly.
Public reporting of health care costs is intended to motivate consumers to choose lower cost providers, and motivate providers to lower costs to retain market share. Measures should be chosen based on which pathway policymakers intend to influence.
This study estimated how healthy people value insurance coverage of specialty drugs, defined as high-cost drugs that treat cancer and other serious health conditions like multiple sclerosis, by quantifying willingness to pay via a survey.
State small-group health insurance reforms, implemented in the 1990s, aimed at controlling the variability of health insurance premiums and to improve access to health insurance. These reforms only affected firms within a specific size range, and as a result, they may have affected the size of small firms around the legislative threshold and may also have affected the propensity of small firms to offer health insurance.
Rules that allow some small employers to avoid regulation under the federal Affordable Care Act are unlikely to have a major impact on the future cost of health insurance unless those rules are relaxed to allow more businesses to opt out.
The financial burden Americans face paying out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs has declined, although prescription costs remain a significant challenge for people with lower incomes and those with public insurance.
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