One of the most visible consumer protections in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is the requirement that health insurers pay out at least 80 percent to 85 percent of premium dollars for medical care expenses. Insurers that pay out less than this minimum "medical loss ratio" (MLR) must rebate the difference to their policyholders, starting in 2011. Using insurers' MLR data from 201...

In the United States, health insurance for those under age 65 is typically provided through group plans purchased by employers from commercial insurers. In the health insurance market, insurers provide complex multi-attribute services, and search frictions arise as employers undertake the costly process of finding appropriate health insurance for their workers. These frictions distort market ou...

In this study, I use panel data from municipal Japanese National Health Insurance (JNHI) insurers to estimate their financial efficiency scores using nonparametric methods and to estimate the causal effects of structural and regional characteristics on the efficiency scores consistently using econometric methods. The major findings of this study are as follows. First, the estimated efficiency s...

“Network adequacy regulations” expand patients’ access to hospitals by mandating a lower bound on the number of hospitals that health insurers must include in their networks. Such regulations, however, compromise insurers’ bargaining position with hospitals, which may increase hospital reimbursement rates, and may consequently be passed through to consumers in the form of higher premiums. In th...

Genetic stratification approaches in personalized medicine may considerably improve our ability to predict breast cancer risk for women at higher risk of developing breast cancer. Notwithstanding these advantages, concerns have been raised about the use of the genetic information derived in these processes, outside of the research and medical health care settings, by third parties such as insur...

The primary objective of the article was to examine level and efficiency structure insurance companies on life market in Poland. study presents critical analysis literature relating technical insurers, i.e. methods estimating efficiency, form frontier model, choice production factors production. used mathematical econometric modelling SFA method. results for 22 a period between 2011-2020 using ...

This paper deals with the role of insurance for damages from catastrophic events. Prior to the attack of September 11, 2001, insurers typically provided coverage for losses from terrorism and those from almost all other causes. These causes were thought by the industry to be of sufficiently low probability and were not a reason for making changes in premiums, underwriting, or reserves. In times...

Akerlof’s (1970) classical paper demonstrated that adverse selection can eliminate markets. These findings by Akerlof gave rise to a proliferation of theoretical models on insurance with adverse selection. However, there exists no empirical test for the model of Akerlof in the context of insurance. In fact, it is not possible to observe a market a la Akerlof in a real context, since that market...

The interdependent nature of security on the Internet causes a negative externality that results in under-investment in technologybased defences. Previous research suggests that, in such an environment, cyber-insurance may serve as an important tool not only to manage risks but also to improve the incentives for investment in security. This paper investigates how competitive cyber-insurers affe...

A major investor in private debt market is life insurance companies. They have long-term, fixed-rate liabilities that are matched by private debt investment. Life insurance companies, as the lenders in the private debt market, have the ability to evaluate the credit quality of borrowers and to perform ongoing risk monitoring. In this study we examine the determinants of private debt holdings fo...