The vast majority of health plans in the United States require patients to meet cost-sharing requirements that are unrelated to income. Because this is highly inequitable, the authors propose a new system in which cost sharing is explicitly linked to income levels. This proposal differs from earlier proposals to relate cost sharing to income, which relied on the federal income tax system. In th...

A review of continuous cost sharing solutions for the minimum cost spanning tree problem is proposed, with a particular focus on the folk and Kar solutions. We compare the characterizations proposed, helped by some new results on equivalencies between sets of properties.

A principal requires a manager for production. He can use an internal manager, or contracts with an external manger. In each case, the manager obtains experience benefits from production. When the principal uses an internal manager, both parties share cost information. When the principal contracts with an external manager, only the external manager acquires cost information. The internal manage...

Comparative effectiveness research has been promoted as a way to control health care costs, but there has been less discussion of the mechanisms through which new evidence actually will influence physician practice, patient preference, and manufacturer investment. Public and private insurers use conditional coverage, consumer cost sharing, provider contracting, and drug payment policies to mana...

Consumers seek for trusted advice during buying decision. Brand owners and retailers invest large sums in marketing and market research, trying hard to find out what customers really want. my2cents is a mobile application for reading and sharing comments and ratings on retail products. Consumers have access to comments about a product via their mobile phone and can share their own product exper...

Using data on mobile phone handset sales from a single retail store, we examine the impact of different retail responsibility designations and vertical contracts on seller service provision, firm profitability, and social welfare. During our sample, this store switched from retailer-managed retailing with linear pricing contracts to manufacturermanaged retailing with revenue sharing. We estimat...

Three criticisms of the contingent valuation method (CVM) are considered in this article. One technique that would appear to answer such criticisms is choice modelling (CM). CM permits value estimates for di¡erent goods sharing a common set of attributes to be pieced together using the results of a single multinomial (conditional) logit model. The CM approach to environmental value assessment i...

We describe findings from the first large-scale cluster randomized controlled trial in a developing country that evaluates the uptake of a health-protecting technology, insecticide-treated bednets (ITNs), through micro-consumer loans, as compared to free distribution and control conditions. Despite a relatively high price, 52 percent of sample households purchased ITNs, highlighting the role of...

Consumer-directed health care plans have attracted attention as a method for managing rising health care spending by giving consumers greater financial control over their health care. However, increased cost-sharing--the principal tool used by these plans to achieve lower spending--may also cause patients to consume less care, even when that care is essential. Research studies have found that l...

It is becoming increasingly apparent that there is a tension between growing consumer demands for access to information and a healthcare system that may not be prepared to meet these demands. Designing an effective solution for this problem will require a thorough understanding of the barriers that now stand in the way of giving patients electronic access to their health data. This paper review...