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At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources
PubMed2006

Enrolling vulnerable, uninsured but eligible children in public health insurance: association with health status and primary care access.

OBJECTIVES: Given that more than two thirds of uninsured children in California are eligible for public health insurance coverage, this study examined differences in primary care access and health status between uninsured but eligible (UBE) children and those who were insured. METHODS: Using data on 19485 children from the 2001 California Health Interview Survey, this study examined differences in primary care access and health status for UBE children versus those who were enrolled in public coverage. Results are stratified by profiles of other risk factors (RF) for poor access: nonwhite, low income, low parent education, and non-English speaking. RESULTS: UBE children were less likely than publicly enrolled children to have a physician visit in the past year, dental visit in the past year, and a regular source of care. On the basis of differences between the UBE children and enrollees in the prevalence of each dependent measure, UBE children with multiple RFs experienced greater disparities than UBE children with fewer RFs. For example, enrollees were more likely than UBE children to have a regular source of care among children with 2, 3, or 4 RFs (differences of 26, 26, and 25 percentage points, respectively) compared with 1 RF (19 percentage points) and 0 RFs (12 percentage points). A similar pattern was found for dental visits but not physician visits. Although there was no difference in health status between UBE children and enrollees overall, enrollees were more likely than UBE children to have excellent/very good health status among children with 2 RFs (difference of 9 percentage points), 3 RFs (12 percentage points), and 4 RFs (11 percentage points). CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that UBE children in California have poorer access to care compared with enrollees, and those with the highest levels of risk have poorer health status. This suggests that providing insurance to these children (and particularly those with multiple RFs) may lead to improved access and health for these vulnerable children.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

California bonanza? Providers and insurers cheer mandatory health insurance law, but business interests look at legal challenge to newly signed bill.

Consider it Gov. Gray Davis' going-away present to the state's hospitals, insurers and physician groups. The California Health Insurance Act of 2003 could mean increased revenue for hospitals. Doctors like Brian Johnston, left, say the bill has been a long time coming and are pleased with the legislation, but others are concerned about what effects the mandatory insurance law will have on small businesses.

California↗
PubMed1998

[Geographical distribution of medical expenditure for the aged insured by National Health Insurance in secondary medical care areas in Japan].

PURPOSES: To determine what factors affect medical expenditure for the aged insured by the National Health Insurance among secondary medical care areas. METHOD: The original data of municipalities were combined and converted into the data of secondary medical areas. The original data included medical expenditure of the aged in 1994, medical supply factors per 100,000 population (numbers of doctors, numbers of general beds in hospitals, numbers of clinics, etc.) and socio-economic factors (income, proportion of employees for three sectors of industries, population density, average size of family, etc.). Medical expenditures for inpatients and outpatients were used separately as independent variables. The medical supply and socio-economic factors have been used as dependent variables. Multiple regression models were applied to clarify the differences in the contributing factors between inpatient and outpatient. RESULTS: 1. The maximum inpatient and outpatient medical expenditures for the aged are respectively 4 times and 2.6 times more expensive than minimum expenditures among secondary medical care areas. 2. The numbers of beds, income per capita, numbers of doctor, average size of family, proportion of employees for third level industry and income accounted for 57.4% of variance in inpatient medical expenditure of the aged. 3. The proportion of employees for first level industry, the numbers of beds and average members of family accounted for 21.4% of variance in outpatient medical expenditure of the aged. 4. Medical expenditure for inpatients related with medical supply and socioeconomic factors differently from that of outpatients.

Aged↗
PubMed2006

The impact of micro health insurance on Rwandan health centre costs.

While the implications of payment mechanisms for provider behaviour and cost have been amply explored in industrialized countries, there is little empirical evidence from developing countries. This study exploits the opportunities created by a pilot study of micro health insurance with capitation in Rwanda to address this issue. Using cross-sectional data collected in 52 health centres, the paper employs an econometric cost function with payer-specific outputs to assess the cost impact of two provider payment mechanisms: (1) user fees for care paid by the uninsured, and (2) capitation payment paid by informal insurance schemes for the insured. The cost function allows payer-specific marginal and average costs and scale measures to be calculated. Findings point to significant differences in cost between the two payment forms. These may be due to the incentives embodied in the capitation provider payment or the less severe case-mix among insured patients arising from improved access to care for this group, or both. For both payment types there are important short-run economies of scale, which could be exploited through more intensive use of idle resources in health centres.

Community Health Centers↗
PubMed1999

The dilemmas of incrementalism: logical and political constraints in the design of health insurance reforms.

Health care reform became a premier issue on the U.S. policy agenda in the 1990s. While the comprehensive proposal put forth by President Clinton failed, states and the federal government successfully pursued a variety of lesser initiatives. This article focuses on a set of reforms intended to make private health insurance more accessible and affordable to individuals and workers in small firms. It outlines the key arguments made by experts to justify stronger regulation of health insurance and the options and difficult tradeoffs that must be considered in policy design. It then examines the scope and strength of legislation adopted by 45 states and the federal government from 1990 to 1996. The substantial variation in state policies demonstrates that even though insurance market reform was the one issue that commanded nearly universal support in the health care debate, few design features were universally accepted by those who crafted the reforms. The article concludes by assessing the pattern of state and federal action. The reforms represent some progress on nominal access to insurance but little progress on the affordability of insurance for individuals and small groups. Few of the reforms present a serious challenge to existing practices and interests of the insurance industry. This pattern of policy design reflects the logical and political constraints of incrementalism. In a system where insurance coverage is voluntary, changes to increase access for one group tend to increase costs and thereby decrease access for another segment of the population. In addition, because incremental reforms will not attract sustained attention and support from the general public, it is politically difficult to impose substantial new regulation on a powerful industry.

Group Purchasing↗
PubMed2002

[Introduction of disease management programmes in Germany as reflected by differing interests of health insurance companies and the federal association of statutory health insurance physicians].

On 1st January 2002 a law was enacted by the German Federal Government reorganising the reinsurance pool known as the "risk compensation scheme" (RSA) of the German health insurance system. This enactment contemplates a gradual restructuring of the RSA to shift from a system that considered only certain demographic criteria to one that reflects actual morbidity rates, with the shift to be phased in before full implementation by 2007. The enactment also introduced disease management programmes (DMP) for patients with certain chronic illnesses. Insurance companies will now receive additional payments from the RSA for patients with a chronic condition who are enrolled in a DMP. The intent is to improve the poor medical care for chronically ill patients in Germany - as had been stated by the advisory council of the Concerted Action in Health Care - and to reduce the natural tendency of insurance companies to prefer young healthy members over chronically ill patients. Possible consequences of the legal changes are discussed from the point of view of the various insurance companies as well as the Federal Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians.

Chronic Disease↗
PubMed2005

Who really pays for health insurance? The incidence of employer-provided health insurance with sticky nominal wages.

This paper addresses two seeming paradoxes in the realm of employer-provided health insurance: First, businesses consistently claim that they bear the burden of the insurance they provide for employees, despite theory and empirical evidence indicating that workers bear the full incidence. Second, benefit generosity and the percentage of premiums paid by employers have decreased in recent decades, despite the preferential tax treatment of employer-paid benefits relative to wages-trends unexplained by the standard incidence model. This paper offers a revised incidence model based on nominal wage rigidity, in an attempt to explain these paradoxes. The model predicts that when the nominal wage constraint binds, some of the burden of increasing insurance premiums will fall on firms, particularly small companies with low-wage employees. In response, firms will reduce employment, decrease benefit generosity, and require larger employee premium contributions. Using Current Population Survey data from 2000-2001, I find evidence for this kind of wage rigidity and its associated impact on the employment and premium contributions of low-wage insured workers during a period of rapid premium growth.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Applying DALY to assessing national health insurance performance: the relationship between the national health insurance expenditures and the burden of disease measures in Iran.

The Iranian government has considered using DALYs as an indicator to prioritize health service expenditures to reduce the burden of disease for the public. A cross-sectional study was designed to compare several measures of the burden of disease with the actual amounts of national health insurance (NHI) expenditures, in one province of Iran (Semnan) for a period of 2 months (September 2000 and February 2001). Furthermore, on the basis of the research findings, a questionnaire was designed and distributed to stakeholders at local and national levels to explore their ideas about the gap between the expenditures of the diseases group and their burden. A semi-structured interview was conducted to elicit participants' views on the research findings. The results of this study have revealed that, currently, there is no strong relation between the NHI expenditures and DALY (r = 0.41, p = 0.09), but that there are stronger relationships between the amounts of NHI reimbursements with YLL (r = 0.52, p < 0.05), mortality (r = 0.67, p < 0.01) and hospital days (r = 0.90, p < 0.01). Comparing each group of disorders' DALY with the resources allocated to them (cost per DALY) it was shown that diabetes mellitus, musculoskeletal diseases, maternal conditions, sense organ disorders received considerably generous funding; and, perinatal conditions, congenital abnormalities, nutritional deficiencies were relatively under-funded. The qualitative research results showed that the majority of respondents agreed that the differences presently existing between disorders' burden and NHI expenditures cannot be justified; and, further, that reducing the overall burden of disease must be one of the most important objectives for the NHI.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed1991

Health insurance in the health administration curriculum.

Managers and policymakers knowledgeable in the delivery and financing of health care are needed in the health care industry, and health administration programs can meet this need by expanding course offerings which consider the role and operations of insurers. This paper surveys the major topics in the field of health insurance and presents a course overview for an introduction to the field of health insurance for health administration students.

Actuarial Analysis↗
PubMed1997

Interim rules for health insurance portability for group health plans--HCFA. Interim rules with request for comments.

This document contains interim rules governing access, portability and renewability requirements for group health plans and issuers of health insurance coverage offered in connection with a group health plan. The rules contained in this document implement changes made to certain provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (Code), the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), and the Public Health Service Act (PHS Act) enacted as part of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). Interested persons are invited to submit comments on the interim rules for consideration by the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Labor, and the Department of the Treasury (Departments) in developing final rules. The rules contained in this document are being adopted in an interim basis to accommodate statutorily established time frames intended to ensure that sponsors and administrators of group health plans, participants and beneficiaries, States, and issuers of group health insurance coverage have timely guidance concerning compliance with the recently enacted requirements of HIPAA.

Career Mobility↗
PubMed2006

A prescription for more retirement income security: retiree health insurance coverage in an era of declining access to employer-sponsored insurance.

As health care costs have been rising, especially for prescription drugs, employers have curtailed access to employer-sponsored retiree health insurance, especially for future retirees. This paper studies the question whether declining access has already translated into measurable loss of coverage for retirees. Based on data from the Current Population Survey and the Medical Expenditures Panel Survey, we find that retirees have lost health insurance and prescription drug coverage since 1996. The declines are especially pronounced for men before age 65 and for all Medicare-eligible retirees between the ages of 65 and 74. Our results also suggest that coverage will decline in the future.

Aged↗