Avoiding the Tragedy of the Commons in Health Care: Policy Options for Covering High-Cost Cures
In this Perspective, the authors discuss the risk that strategic behavior by health insurers could unravel the market for curative therapies for chronic diseases. Because the cost of these cures is front-loaded but the benefits accrue over time, insurers might attempt to delay treatment or avoid patients who require it, in the hope that they might change insurers. The authors present a framework to analyze policy options to remedy this problem.