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Private Health Insurance (private + health_insurance)
Selected AbstractsRISK ATTITUDES AND THE DEMAND FOR PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE: THE IMPORTANCE OF ,CAPTIVE PREFERENCES'ANNALS OF PUBLIC AND COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS, Issue 4 2009Joan Costa-Font ABSTRACT,:,Captivity to a mainstream public insurer, is hypothesized to constrain the choice of purchasing private health insurance, by influencing risk attitudes. Namely, risk averse individuals are more likely to stay captive to the National Health System (NHS). To empirically test this hypothesis we use a small scale database from Catalonia to explore the determinants of private health insurance (PHI) purchase under different forms of captivity along with a measure of risk attitudes. Our results confirm that the captivity corrections are significant and can potentially bias the estimates of the demand for PHI. Risk aversion increases the probability of an individual being captive to the NHS. The latter suggests a potential behavioural (or cultural) mechanism to isolate the influence of risk attitudes on the demand for PHI in publicly financed health systems. [source] Will Subsidising Private Health Insurance Help the Public Health System?THE ECONOMIC RECORD, Issue 242 2002Rhema Vaithianathan This paper challenges the argument that expanding private health insurance coverage in Australia will reduce the demand for public hospitals. We construct a simple model to illustrate that although a premium subsidy might expand insurance coverage, it may not reduce the demand for public health services. The reason is that, under certain conditions, government subsidies only increase insurance coverage among self,insured consumers; that is, consumers who are uninsured but purchase private health care if they fall ill. We argue that subsidising private health care rather than insurance is a more effective way of reducing the demand for public health services. [source] ALL CHILDREN ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL: PRWORA'S UNCONSTITUTIONAL RESTRICTION ON IMMIGRANT CHILDREN'S ACCESS TO FEDERAL HEALTH CARE PROGRAMSFAMILY COURT REVIEW, Issue 3 2006Hyejung Janet Shin The lack of health insurance for children is a serious problem in the United States, especially for those children in families that earn too little to get private health insurance and too much to qualify for Medicare. Even within this subclass of children, immigrant children are particularly vulnerable to the problems faced by lack of health care. Nevertheless, with the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) by Congress, equality interests of low-income immigrant children are undermined when immigrant children are denied federal benefits for the first 5 years of residency in the United States. The first part of this Note examines the importance of child health care and the long-term problems with uninsured children, especially with uninsured immigrant children and pregnant women. The next part introduces Medicaid as well as State Children's Health Insurance Program, a supplemental federal program designed to increase health care coverage to all children, while contrasting these programs in light of the restrictive anti-immigrant PRWORA provisions. The third part explains the passage of PRWORA, its anti-immigrant provisions, and how these provisions prevent needy immigrant children from receiving federally funded health care. Then, the fourth part uses both the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to argue the unconstitutionality of the anti-immigrant provisions. Finally, the last part lays out the recommendation to amend the Social Security Act so that the PRWORA barriers can be removed and recent immigrant children can receive federally funded health care. [source] Healthy, wealthy and insured?HEALTH ECONOMICS, Issue 3 2008The role of self-assessed health in the demand for private health insurance Abstract Both adverse selection and moral hazard models predict a positive relationship between risk and insurance; yet the most common finding in empirical studies of insurance is that of a negative correlation. In this paper, we investigate the relationship between ex ante risk and private health insurance using Australian data. The institutional features of the Australian system make the effects of asymmetric information more readily identifiable than in most other countries. We find a strong positive association between self-assessed health and private health cover. By applying the Lokshin and Ravallion (J. Econ. Behav. Organ 2005; 56:141,172) technique we identify the factors responsible for this result and recover the conventional negative relationship predicted by adverse selection when using more objective indicators of health. Our results also provide support for the hypothesis that self-assessed health captures individual traits not necessarily related to risk of health expenditures, in particular, attitudes towards risk. Specifically, we find that those persons who engage in risk-taking behaviours are simultaneously less likely to be in good health and less likely to buy insurance. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Changes in the demand for private medical insurance following a shift in tax incentivesHEALTH ECONOMICS, Issue 2 2008Marisol Rodríguez Abstract The 1998 Spanish reform of the Personal Income Tax eliminated the 15% deduction for private medical expenditures including payments on private health insurance (PHI) policies. To avoid an undesired increase in the demand for publicly funded health care, tax incentives to buy PHI were not completely removed but basically shifted from individual to group employer-paid policies. In a unique fiscal experiment, at the same time that the tax relief for individually purchased policies was abolished, the government provided for tax allowances on policies taken out through employment. Using a bivariate probit model on data from National Health Surveys, we estimate the impact of said reform on the demand for PHI and the changes occurred within it. Our findings indicate that the total probability of buying PHI was not significantly affected by the reform. Indeed, the fall in the demand for individual policies (by 10% between 1997 and 2001) was offset by an increase in the demand for group employer-paid ones. We also briefly discuss the welfare effects on the state budget, the industry and society at large. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Psychotherapy in Australia: Clinical psychology and its approach to depressionJOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 8 2007David J. Kavanagh In Australia, clinical psychology training is dominated by cognitive and behavioral treatments (CBTs), although there is exposure to other theoretical orientations. Since 2001, over 20% of general medical practitioners (GPs) have received training in CBT, and psychiatry training increasingly incorporates CBT elements. Psychotherapy by medical practitioners is financially supported by universal health care funding with supplementation by patients and their private health insurance. Federally funded health benefits for up to 12 psychology consultations per year are provided on referral from GPs and psychiatrists, and initial takeup has been very strong. Mrs. A would be a typical patient for such a referral. However, she would not fulfill criteria for priority access from state-funded mental health services. Mrs. A would probably consult a GP and receive antidepressants, although she may also access a range of other community support programs. Access to and acceptance of psychotherapy would be greater in urban areas, and if she were of Anglo-Saxon and nonindigenous origin. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol: In Session 63: 725,733, 2007. [source] Dental visits by Australian preschool childrenJOURNAL OF PAEDIATRICS AND CHILD HEALTH, Issue 6 2003LM Slack-Smith Objective: To provide population-based data on dental visits in preschool children, to assist in the planning of such services and preventive programs. Methodology: Dental visits in young children are described and associated factors are investigated using data from the 1995 National Health Survey. Results: Thirty-eight per cent of children aged 3,4 years had ever visited a dental professional with 31% having visited a dental professional in the previous 12 months (total n = 1596). Factors associated with having ever visited a dental professional included age in years (,2 = 74.16, P < 0.0001), state of residence (,2 = 25.81, P= 0.0005) and private health insurance (,2 = 7.96, P= 0.005). Similar factors were associated with visits in last 12 months. Western Australia had the lowest proportion of preschool children aged 3,4 years having ever visited a dental professional (29%) while South Australia had the highest proportion (48%). The major reasons given for dental visits were check-up and fillings. Conclusion: Data regarding children not as likely to attend dental services can be used to target services and assist in ensuring preschool children receive appropriate dental care. [source] New Directions for Health Insurance Design: Implications for Public Health Policy and PracticeTHE JOURNAL OF LAW, MEDICINE & ETHICS, Issue 2003Sara Rosenbaum ABSTRACT National attention on issues of public health preparedness necessarily brings into sharp focus the question of how to assure adequate, community-wide health care financing for preventive, acute care, and long-term medical care responses to public health threats. In the U.S., public and private health insurance represents the principal means by which medical care is financed. Beyond the threshold challenge of the many persons without any, or a stable form of, coverage lie challenges related to the structure and characteristics of health insurance itself, particularly the commercial industry and its newly emerging market of consumer-driven health plans. States vary significantly in how they approach the regulation of insurance and in their willingness to support various types of insurance markets. This variation is attributable to the size and robustness of the insurance market, the political environment, and regulatory tradition and custom. Reconciling health insurance markets with public health-related health care financing needs arising from public health threats should be viewed as a major dimension of national health reform. [source] US Health Care Reform and Transplantation.AMERICAN JOURNAL OF TRANSPLANTATION, Issue 10 2010Impact on Access, Part I: Overview, Reimbursement in the Private Sector The Health Care Reform (HCR) legislation passed by Congress in 2010 will have significant impact on transplant centers, patients and health care professionals. The Act seeks to expand coverage, limit the growth in health care costs and reform the delivery and insurance systems. In Part I of this two part series, we provide an overview and perspective of changes in private health insurance resulting from HCR. Under the plan, all Americans will be required to purchase coverage through their employer or via an improved individual/small group market. This legislation limits abusive practices such as limitations on preexisting conditions, lifetime and annual coverage limitations and dropping of beneficiaries if they become sick. The legislation will also limit high-cost plans and regulate premium increases. Private sector reforms are likely to benefit our patients by increasing the number of patients with access to transplant services, since the use of ,preexisting' conditions will be eliminated. However without a concomitant increase in the organ supply, longer waiting times and greater use of marginal organs are likely to increase the cost of transplant. Furthermore, transplant providers will receive reduced reimbursement as a result of market consolidation and the growing power of large transplant networks. [source] RISK ATTITUDES AND THE DEMAND FOR PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE: THE IMPORTANCE OF ,CAPTIVE PREFERENCES'ANNALS OF PUBLIC AND COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS, Issue 4 2009Joan Costa-Font ABSTRACT,:,Captivity to a mainstream public insurer, is hypothesized to constrain the choice of purchasing private health insurance, by influencing risk attitudes. Namely, risk averse individuals are more likely to stay captive to the National Health System (NHS). To empirically test this hypothesis we use a small scale database from Catalonia to explore the determinants of private health insurance (PHI) purchase under different forms of captivity along with a measure of risk attitudes. Our results confirm that the captivity corrections are significant and can potentially bias the estimates of the demand for PHI. Risk aversion increases the probability of an individual being captive to the NHS. The latter suggests a potential behavioural (or cultural) mechanism to isolate the influence of risk attitudes on the demand for PHI in publicly financed health systems. [source] Preoperative prediction of long-term outcome following laparoscopic fundoplicationANZ JOURNAL OF SURGERY, Issue 7 2002Colm J. O'Boyle Background: Although long-term outcomes following laparoscopic fundoplication for gastro-oesophageal disease have now been reported as very satisfactory, a small, but important, minority of patients are unhappy with the outcome, often due to recurrent reflux symptoms or new-onset dysphagia. In this study, we sought to establish whether various parameters that can be determined before surgery, can predict the long-term outcome of surgery. Methods: Data collected prospectively were evaluated to determine factors that were associated with outcome at 5 years following laparoscopic fundoplication. Inclusion criteria were complete preoperative assessment data and 5-year follow-up data. Data examined included information on preoperative age, sex, weight, home address, health insurance status, duration of reflux symptoms, previous surgery, operating surgeon, endoscopy and 24-h pH monitoring. In addition, lower oesophageal sphincter resting and residual relaxation pressures were evaluated before and after surgery. The postoperative symptoms of heartburn and dysphagia, as well as overall satisfaction 5 years following surgery was determined using a 0,10 visual analogue scale. The association of the pre- and perioperative factors and outcome at 5 years was determined by univariate and linear regression analysis. Results: Two hundred and sixty-two patients from an overall experience of over 1000 laparoscopic anti-reflux procedures met the entry criteria. There was no association between patient address, age, weight, duration of symptoms, the presence of endoscopically proven oesophagitis, operating surgeon, the necessity for conversion to an open procedure, change in lower oesophageal sphincter residual relaxation pressure and the outcome parameters. Using univariate analysis, a higher heartburn score was associated with previous abdominal surgery, female sex, no private health insurance, and a normal preoperative 24-h pH study. A higher dysphagia score was associated with a normal preoperative pH study, a postoperative increase in lower oesophageal sphincter resting pressure of more than 6 mmHg, and previous abdominal surgery. Overall satisfaction with the outcome at 5 years was higher among male patients, private patients, patients who had a hiatus hernia, and patients who had an abnormal preoperative pH study. Linear regression analysis confirmed that private insurance, male sex, and the absence of previous abdominal surgery, were the strongest predictors of an improved heartburn score, whereas male sex and private health insurance were the strongest predictors of greater satisfaction with the overall outcome. Conclusions: There are parameters that can be assessed before or during laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication that correlate with late outcome parameters. In particular, male patients and those from higher socioeconomic groups appear to have a better long-term outcome. [source] Is inequity undermining Australia's ,universal' health care system?AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, Issue 5 2009Socio-economic inequalities in the use of specialist medical, non-medical ambulatory health care Abstract Objectives: To quantify need-adjusted socio-economic inequalities in medical and non-medical ambulatory health care in Australia and to examine the effects of specific interventions, namely concession cards and private health insurance (PHI), on equity. Methods: We used data from a 2004 survey of 10,905 Australian women aged 53 to 58 years. We modelled the association between socio-economic status and health service use , GPs, specialists, hospital doctors, allied and alternative health practitioners, and dentists , adjusting for health status and other confounding variables. We quantified inequalities using the relative index of inequality (RII) using Poisson regression. The contribution of concession cards and PHI in promoting equity/inequity was examined using mediating models. Results: There was equality in the use of GP services, but socio-economically advantaged women were more likely than disadvantaged women to use specialist (RII=1.41, 95% CI:1.26,1.58), allied health (RII=1.21,1.12,1.30), alternative health (RII=1.29,1.13,1.47) and dental services (RII=1.61,1.48,1.75) after adjusting for need, and they were less likely to visit hospital doctors (RII=0.74,0.57,0.96). Concession cards reduced socio-economic inequality in GP but not specialist care. Inequality in dental and allied health services was partly explained by inequalities in PHI. Conclusions and implications: Substantial socio-economic inequity exists in use of specialist and non-medical ambulatory care in Australia. This is likely to exacerbate existing health inequalities, but is potentially amenable to change. [source] Diabetes in Victoria, Australia: the Visual Impairment ProjectAUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, Issue 6 2000Rob McKay Objectives:To establish the prevalence and characteristics of self-reported diabetes in a representative sample of Victorian residents aged 40 years and older, and to compare the vision between people with and without self-reported diabetes. Design:Cross-sectional survey. Setting:Nine randomly selected suburban Melbourne clusters and four randomly selected rural Victorian clusters. Participants:4,744 subjects (86% participation rate) aged ,40 years. Main outcome measures:Subjects answered a detailed questionnaire which provided demographic details, body mass index, and the duration and treatment of any diagnosis of diabetes. Refraction was performed and best-corrected visual acuity was measured. Results:The prevalence of self-reported diabetes was 5.1%. In a multivariate analysis, self-reported diabetes was positively associated with age (p<0.01), male sex (p=0.01), higher body mass index (p=0.01), Mediterranean ethnicity (p=0.01), unemployment (p=0.05) and lack of private health insurance (p<0.05). People with self-reported diabetes were more likely to have mild or moderate levels of visual impairment than people who reported no previous diagnosis of diabetes (p<0.01). Conclusions:Diabetes in Victoria is more prevalent among men and among people of Mediterranean origin. When planning educational programs and health service delivery, it is also important to consider that, compared with the general population, people with diabetes are less likely to be employed or to have private health insurance, and are more likely to have impaired vision. [source] The Australian Health Care Agreement 1998,2003: Implications and strategic directions for occupational therapistsAUSTRALIAN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY JOURNAL, Issue 2 2000Susan Brandis Funding for public health services in Australia is provided to the States and Territories from the Commonwealth. Contractual obligations for how these monies are allocated are detailed in the Australian Health Care Agreement 1998,2003, which has replaced the Medicare Agreement 1993,1998. Key issues identified in the new Agreement, which will impact on occupational therapy services, include arrangements for mental health services, palliative care initiatives, casemix, health system reform, and private health insurance. Particular implications stem from the proposed reforms to the health system. These include the quality agenda, outcome-based funding and evidence-based practice. Other themes identified include future opportunities for occupational therapists working in health services and the imperative to form collaborative partnerships with consumers and other health care providers. The Australian Health Care Agreement is analysed and suggestions given for strategic directions for occupational therapists to consider. [source] IS THERE A ,SECESSION OF THE WEALTHY'?BULLETIN OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH, Issue 3 2008PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE UPTAKE AND NATIONAL HEALTH SYSTEM SUPPORT I1; G1 ABSTRACT The purchase of private health insurance (PHI) as a means to partially supplement the National Health System (NHS) coverage is often regarded as a potential signal for a declining support for the NHS. Exploiting the fact that PHI is typically purchased by the most affluent, in this paper we test the so called ,secession of the wealthy' hypothesis whereby the likelihood of expressing ,lack of support for the NHS' increases with having supplementary PHI. Using empirical data from Catalonia, we draw upon an empirical strategy that circumvents an obvious simultaneity problem by estimating both a recursive bivariate probit as well as an IV probit. After controlling for insurance premium, household income and other socio-demographic determinants, we find that the purchase of PHI reduces the propensity of individuals to support the NHS. We also find evidence that PHI is a luxury good and sensitive to fiscal incentives. [source] | ||||||||||||||||