BACKGROUND Struggling to correct the public-private imbalance in its health care system, the Hong Kong SAR Government seeks to introduce a government-regulated voluntary health insurance scheme, or VHIS, a distinctive financing instrument that combines the characteristics of private insurance with strong government regulation. This study examines citizens' responses to the new scheme and their ...

A Dutch-supported foundation is 'exporting' private health insurance to Nigeria, selling a US$ 30 health-care package for US$ 3. Gary Humphreys reports.

Private health insurance plays a large and increasing role around the world. This paper reviews international experiences and shows that private health insurance is significant in countries with widely different income levels and health system structures. It contrasts trends in private health insurance expansion across regions and highlights countries with particularly important experiences of ...

JULY 1, 1976, marks the tenth annwersary of the start of Medicare Enacted Into law m 1965 as title XVIII of the Soaal Security ActHealth Insurance for the Aged-the new program went Into effect on July 1, 1966, and began to provide basic health msursnce coverage for persons aged 65 and over-the age group with the highest mmdence of dlness and dlsnblhty, the lowest mcome, and the least adequate p...

Ten years ago, Cutler and Gruber [Cutler, D., Gruber, J., 1996. Does public health insurance crowdout private insurance? Quarterly Journal of Economics 111, 391-430] suggested that crowd-out might be quite large, but much subsequent research has questioned this conclusion. Our results using improved data and methods clearly show that crowd-out is still significant in the 1996-2002 period. This ...