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Insurance and Health

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Health Economics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2017) | Viewed by 16511

Special Issue Editor

Centre for the Business and Economics of Health, University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, Australia
Interests: health economics; insurance economics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleague,

The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH) has commissioned a Special Issue on Health Insurance and Health. Health insurance is an important distal determinant of health status; health status itself may also exert an important influence over individuals’ insurance decisions, and correlated factors (such as risk aversion) may be correlated with both health outcomes and insurance choices.

This Special Issue focuses on the linkages between health insurance and health itself, but its remit is broad and extends to the management of risk in relation to a range of environmental and public health challenges. Submissions from a range of social science and health-related disciplines is encouraged (e.g., law, economics, public health epidemiology, environmental science, and so on).

The scope of this Special Issue includes, but is not limited to the relationships between:

  • health insurance, human behaviour and health and other social outcomes;
  • life insurance, human behaviour, and health and other social outcomes;
  • residential aged care insurance and other forms of insurance and their effects on health and other social outcomes;
  • compulsory third-party (e.g., auto) insurance schemes and their relationship to health and other social outcomes;
  • workers’ compensation schemes and their relationship to health and other social outcomes;
  • risk management practices that affect food security, biosecurity and other potential challenges to human health;
  • adverse selection in health insurance and other insurance markets, and its effects on market and health outcomes;
  • moral hazard in health and other insurance markets that may affect health outcomes;
  • insurer and service provider behaviour, market outcomes and health outcomes in markets affected by insurance;
  • consumer behaviour, market outcomes and health outcomes in markets affected by insurance;
  • public policy and regulation and their effects on insurance markets and health outcomes.

Public and private insurance arrangements are of equal interest; as are interactions between public and private insurance schemes and the outcomes these produce.

Prof. Luke B. Connelly
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • moral hazard
  • adverse selection
  • insurance
  • health
  • compensation
  • consumer behaviour
  • producer behaviour
  • regulation
  • market outcomes
  • policy
  • regulation

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

10 pages, 633 KiB  
Article
Adverse Selection in Community Based Health Insurance among Informal Workers in Bangladesh: An EQ-5D Assessment
by Sayem Ahmed, Abdur Razzaque Sarker, Marufa Sultana, Sanchita Chakrovorty, Md. Zahid Hasan, Andrew J. Mirelman and Jahangir A. M. Khan
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15(2), 242; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15020242 - 31 Jan 2018
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 5021
Abstract
Community-based Health Insurance (CBHI) schemes are recommended for providing financial risk protection to low-income informal workers in Bangladesh. We assessed the problem of adverse selection in a pilot CBHI scheme in this context. In total, 1292 (646 insured and 646 uninsured) respondents were [...] Read more.
Community-based Health Insurance (CBHI) schemes are recommended for providing financial risk protection to low-income informal workers in Bangladesh. We assessed the problem of adverse selection in a pilot CBHI scheme in this context. In total, 1292 (646 insured and 646 uninsured) respondents were surveyed using the Bengali version of the EuroQuol-5 dimensions (EQ-5D) questionnaire for assessing their health status. The EQ-5D scores were estimated using available regional tariffs. Multiple logistic regression was applied for predicting the association between health status and CBHI scheme enrolment. A higher number of insured reported problems in mobility (7.3%; p = 0.002); self-care (7.1%; p = 0.000) and pain and discomfort (7.7%; p = 0.005) than uninsured. The average EQ-5D score was significantly lower among the insured (0.704) compared to the uninsured (0.749). The regression analysis showed that those who had a problem in mobility (m 1.25–2.17); self-care (OR = 2.29; 95% CI: 1.62–3.25) and pain and discomfort (OR = 1.43; 95% CI: 1.13–1.81) were more likely to join the scheme. Individuals with higher EQ-5D scores (OR = 0.46; 95% CI: 0.31–0.69) were less likely to enroll in the scheme. Given that adverse selection was evident in the pilot CBHI scheme, there should be consideration of this problem when planning scale-up of these kind of schemes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Insurance and Health)
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247 KiB  
Article
Vaccines as Epidemic Insurance
by Mark V. Pauly
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2017, 14(11), 1304; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14111304 - 27 Oct 2017
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3438
Abstract
This paper explores the relationship between the research for and development of vaccines against global pandemics and insurance. It shows that development in advance of pandemics of a portfolio of effective and government-approved vaccines does have some insurance properties: it requires incurring costs [...] Read more.
This paper explores the relationship between the research for and development of vaccines against global pandemics and insurance. It shows that development in advance of pandemics of a portfolio of effective and government-approved vaccines does have some insurance properties: it requires incurring costs that are certain (the costs of discovering, developing, and testing vaccines) in return for protection against large losses (if a pandemic treatable with one of the vaccines occurs) but also with the possibility of no benefit (from a vaccine against a disease that never reaches the pandemic stage). It then argues that insurance against the latter event might usefully be offered to organizations developing vaccines, and explores the benefits of insurance payments to or on behalf of countries who suffer from unpredictable pandemics. These ideas are then related to recent government, industry, and philanthropic efforts to develop better policies to make vaccines against pandemics available on a timely basis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Insurance and Health)
444 KiB  
Article
Trends and Comparisons of Utilization of Emergency Departments Due to Traumatic or Non-Traumatic Causes among the HIV-Positive Population in Taiwan, 2006–2011
by Ching-Heng Lin, Ting Lin, Pesus Chou and Nan-Ping Yang
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2017, 14(10), 1214; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14101214 - 11 Oct 2017
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2903
Abstract
It is important that the utilization of emergency departments (EDs) among people living with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) be epidemiologically evaluated in order to assess and improve the HIV care continuum. All participants newly-diagnosed with HIV in Taiwan registered in the National [...] Read more.
It is important that the utilization of emergency departments (EDs) among people living with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) be epidemiologically evaluated in order to assess and improve the HIV care continuum. All participants newly-diagnosed with HIV in Taiwan registered in the National Health Insurance Database from 2000 to 2005 were enrolled in this study and followed-up from 2006 to 2011. In total, 3500 participants newly-diagnosed with HIV in 2000–2005 were selected as a fixed-cohort population and followed-up from 2006 to 2011. Overall, 704, 645, 591, 573, 578, and 568 cases made 1322, 1275, 1050, 1061, 1136, and 992 ED visits in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011, respectively, with an average number of ED visits ranging from 1.75 to 1.98 per person, accounting for 20.1–22.6% of the whole HIV-positive population. Fewer ED visits were due to traumatic reasons, accounting for 19.6–24.4% of all cases. The incidence of traumatic and non-traumatic ED visits among the HIV-positive participants ranged from 7.2–9.3 and 27.0–33.9 per 100 people, respectively. The average direct medical cost of traumatic and non-traumatic ED visits ranged from $89.3–112.0 and $96.6–120.0, respectively. In conclusion, a lower incidence of ED visits for all reasons and fewer ED visits owing to traumatic causes were observed in the population living with HIV in comparison with the general population; however, the direct medical cost of each ED visit owing to both traumatic and non-traumatic causes was greater among those living with HIV than in the general population. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Insurance and Health)
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294 KiB  
Article
Socioeconomic Differences in and Predictors of Home-Based Palliative Care Health Service Use in Ontario, Canada
by Jiaoli Cai, Denise N. Guerriere, Hongzhong Zhao and Peter C. Coyte
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2017, 14(7), 802; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14070802 - 18 Jul 2017
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 4629
Abstract
The use of health services may vary across people with different socioeconomic statuses, and may be determined by many factors. The purposes of this study were (i) to examine the socioeconomic differences in the propensity and intensity of use for three main home-based [...] Read more.
The use of health services may vary across people with different socioeconomic statuses, and may be determined by many factors. The purposes of this study were (i) to examine the socioeconomic differences in the propensity and intensity of use for three main home-based health services, that is, home-based palliative care physician visits, nurse visits and personal support worker (PSW) hours; and (ii) to explore the determinants of the use of home-based palliative care services. A prospective cohort study was employed. A total of 181 caregivers were interviewed biweekly over the course of the palliative care trajectory, yielding a total of 994 interviews. The propensity and intensity of health service use were examined using logistic regression and negative binomial regression, respectively. The results demonstrated that both the propensity and intensity of home-based nurse and PSW visits fell with socioeconomic status. The use of home-based palliative care services was not concentrated in high socioeconomic status groups. The common predictors of health service use in the three service categories were patient age, the Palliative Performance Scale (PPS) score and place of death. These findings may assist health service planners in the appropriate allocation of resources and service packages to meet the complex needs of palliative care populations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Insurance and Health)
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