Reinsurance: how states can make health coverage more affordable for employers and workers

Reinsurance: how states can make health coverage more affordable for employers and workers

Collection:
Health Policy and Services Research
Author(s):
Swartz, Katherine, author
Contributor(s):
Commonwealth Fund, issuing body.
Publication:
[New York, N.Y.] : Commonwealth Fund, July 2005
Language(s):
English
Format:
Text
Subject(s):
Health Benefit Plans, Employee
Insurance, Health -- economics
Selection Bias
Arizona
New York
United States
Genre(s):
Technical Report
Abstract:
State-government-provided reinsurance--essentially, insurance for insurance companies--can relieve health insurers of the risk of "adverse selection" (disproportionate enrollments of individuals with extraordinarily high medical costs), particularly in the small group and individual markets. With such programs in place, insurers may significantly lower premiums, thereby making health coverage affordable for more people. Two states, New York and Arizona, have run reinsurance programs for several years that are achieving significant success. As other states consider establishing their own plans, they must similarly take into account a variety of operational, cost-estimation, and financial issues. Although established primarily with the working poor in mind, reinsurance could be designed to lower health insurance costs for all.
Copyright:
Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY license. (More information)
Extent:
1 online resource (1 PDF file (viii, 21 pages))
Illustrations:
Illustrations
NLM Unique ID:
101255052 (See catalog record)
Permanent Link:
http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101255052