The Netherlands relies on risk equalization to compensate competing health insurers for predictable variation in individual medical expenses. Without accurate risk equalization insurers are confronted with incentives for risk selection. The goal of this study is to evaluate the improvement in predictive accuracy of the Dutch risk equalization model since its introduction in 1993. Based on indiv...

Through an innovative new policy forged with a single insurer, Honeywell is consolidating risks as diverse as fire protection and currency fluctuations--and saving a bundle.

We conduct a retrospective study of the Sutter–Summit hospital merger to assess whether antitrust enforcement in this matter was appropriate. This consummated merger combined two hospitals located close together in the Oakland-Berkeley region of the San Francisco Bay Area. The greater metropolitan area contained many other hospitals that offered a similar range of services, but which were locat...

We describe recent advances in the empirical analysis of insurance markets. This new research proposes ways to estimate individual demand for insurance and the relationship between prices and insurer costs in the presence of adverse and advantageous selection. We discuss how these models permit the measurement of welfare distortions arising from asymmetric information and the welfare consequenc...

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Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are cytokines with strong ability to promote new bone formation. Herein, we report the use of silk fibroin microparticles as carriers for the delivery of BMP-2, BMP-9 or BMP-14. BMP-containing fibroin microparticles were prepared by a mild methodology using dropwise addition of ethanol, exhibiting mean diameters of 2.7 +/- 0.3 microm. Encapsulation efficiencie...

Synthetic short interfering RNA (siRNA) oligonucleotides can trigger the RNA interference pathway and lead to selective gene silencing. Despite considerable enthusiasm and investment, formidable challenges remain that may deter translating this breakthrough discovery into clinical applications. In particular, the development of efficient, nontoxic, nonimmunogenic methods for delivering siRNA in...

Female FMR1 premutation carriers (PMC) have been suggested to be at greater risk of ill health, in particular endocrine dysfunction, compared to the general population. We set out to review the literature relating to endocrine dysfunction, including premature ovarian insufficiency (POI), in female PMCs, and then to consider whether endocrine dysfunction in itself may be predictive of other illn...