BACKGROUND This study examines whether bed days are alternative methods to medical care use for treating a particular illness. If bed days at home are considered as an alternative to medical treatment, then medical care use and bed days at home should be influenced by an individual's health insurance status. METHOD This study uses data from the 2003 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) on ...

While Japan's success in achieving universal health insurance over a short period with controlled healthcare costs has been studied from various perspectives, that of beneficiaries have been overlooked. We conducted a secondary analysis of an opinion poll on health insurance in 1967, immediately after reaching universal coverage. We found that people continued to face a slight barrier to health...

Most health insurance in the USA is provided by employers until eligibility for public health insurance (Medicare) begins at age 65. Retiring before 65 exposes workers who lack retiree health insurance coverage to the risk of catastrophic medical expenditure. We solve and estimate a dynamic model of the employment behavior of older married couples that includes risky medical expenditure and hea...

,QMENDMENTS TO THE Social Security -4ct, passed in 1965 {Public Law S9-97) not only made major changes in the exisbing old-age, surviwrs: and disabi1it.y insurance (OASDI) syst.em but also established t,wo new insurance programs : the hospital insurance program a.nd the supplementary medical insurance pr0gram.l The three syste.ms are to be financed separately and are therefore discussed separat...

introduction: health care is considered as one of the basic needs of human societies. health insurance is the most appropriate option for all individuals to enjoy equal health care. however, today, different types of health insurance are facing with various problems which need to be solved through new laws. therefore, health insurance portability and accountability act (hipaa) was approved to s...

A recently published report of a nationwide survey 1 showed family medical costs in relation to ownership of voluntary health insurance. The present study, based on surveys of a smaller group of families in three areas, permits a similar examination of the effect of health insurance on family spending for medical care. The findings corroborate those of the national study in many respects. In ad...

A large number of states adopted tort reforms in the mid-1980s to limit the dramatic surge in insurance losses and premiums. Evidence based on liability insurance data by state indicates that these reforms substantially infiuenced general liability insurance. The levels of losses, premiums, and loss ratios (a measure of insurance profitability) all reflected the impact of the reforms. The large...