Two non-exclusive hypotheses about what motivates remittances sent by Dominican migrants to their rural parents in the Sierra are tested: (a) an insurance contract taken by parents with their migrant children and (b) an investment by migrants in potential bequests. Results show that the relative importance of these two motives to remit is affected by destination (US vs. cities in the Dominican ...

There are numerous approaches to the measurement of insurer profitability and ratemaking. On the surface, these approaches appear to be quite different since the results produced by them can, and often do, yield conflicting results. Certainly contüsion is created when figures and results differ, and it is unclear as to the cause of the difference. This is especially true in the area of ratemaki...

This study examines the overall profile and costs associated with severely ill commercially insured people. We found severely ill members to have the highest costs, from both the insurer and member perspective. Even for the most costly members where specialty medication use was highest, biologics represented less than one-third of the pharmacy spending and 6.6 percent of overall spending. Out-o...

We begin with Galanter’s suggestion that attorneys who are “repeat players” in a specific area of litigation have an advantage over those who are not. Using a combination of data sources we analyze the impact of attorney experience and case characteristics on case outcome of 348 North Carolina medical malpractice lawsuits. We add the insurers’ evaluation of liability to the analysis in a limite...

OBJECTIVE Describing the extent and forms of use of pay for performance (P4P) in Colombian healthcare. METHODS This was a descriptive study based on interviews and surveys of health insurance agency managers in Bogotá, Colombia. The authors relied on transaction cost theory to interpret the results. RESULTS P4P was found to be used by contribution scheme insurers in an outpatient setting, b...

In 1996, free choice of health insurers was introduced to the German social health insurance system. One objective was to increase efficiency through competition. A crucial precondition for effective competition among health insurers is that consumers search for lower-priced health insurers. We test this hypothesis by estimating the price elasticities of insurers' market shares. We use unique p...

We show that under common assumptions, prices derived from standard bargaining models between insurers and hospitals are such that surplus-maximizing insurers pay more for every patient-service than the value of the service to the patient. We propose an alternative model, consistent with practitioner evidence. The equilibrium of our model and the corresponding equations for estimation are such ...

Introduction: Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is a method of cancer treatment and potentially, two borono-L-phenylalanine (BPA) and sodium borocaptate (BSH) are used in BNCT as common boron carriers. Some previous studies have shown that the dose rate is directly related to boron concentration in the tissue. This study aimed to simulate the structure of boron carriers and brain tumor compo...