Measuring changes in household spending burden under health reform proposals: a standard approach for microsimulation analyses

Measuring changes in household spending burden under health reform proposals: a standard approach for microsimulation analyses

Collection:
Health Policy and Services Research
Author(s):
Blumberg, Linda J., author
Banthin, Jessica S., author
Simpson, Michael, author
Contributor(s):
Commonwealth Fund, issuing body.
Publication:
[New York, New York] : The Commonwealth Fund, April 2021
Language(s):
English
Format:
Text
Subject(s):
Financing, Personal
Health Care Reform -- economics
Insurance, Health -- economics
Models, Economic
United States
Genre(s):
Technical Report
Abstract:
Issue. The potential impact of health reforms is usually measured by aggregate costs and effects on coverage, especially the number of uninsured. However, the estimated changes in federal costs could also potentially reflect large changes in household spending. Important impacts on financial burdens are not measured by modeling teams consistently and often get lost in debates over merits of proposals. Frequently, failing to measure the distributional impacts of policy changes on household health care financing burdens leaves critical benefits of new spending unknown. Goal. Delineate measures of change in the distribution of household health care financial burdens that sophisticated microsimulation modeling teams, such as those of CBO, the Urban Institute, and RAND, could straightforwardly incorporate into their analyses of reform proposals. Methods. Develop metrics to measure financial burden using the Urban Institute's Health Insurance Policy Simulation Model and its underlying data. Display and test each metric using an illustrative reform. Key Findings and Conclusions. We propose two standard objective measures of health care financial burdens that microsimulation modelers can regularly produce. We also contend that it is critical to accompany these measures with a third metric that estimates the change in total health care services under reform.
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 (18 pages))
Illustrations:
Illustrations
NLM Unique ID:
9918300868406676 (See catalog record)
Permanent Link:
http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/9918300868406676