The majority of states have implemented separate SCHIP (S-SCHIP) programs that significantly depart from Medicaid and resemble less comprehensive commercial products. This difference in program design may result in S-SCHIP potentially being less responsive to children with special needs (CSHCNs). This study explores how responsive insurers are to these higher than average needs. We found that, ...

Digital technology is costly, but it allows insurers to more quickly learn about the risk type of their policyholders. We study the implications of this speed-versus-cost tradeoff for equilibrium pricing and coverage decisions in an insurance market featuring adverse selection. In particular, we develop a theoretical model of dynamic competitive equilibrium featuring individuals who differ in t...

A 2D finite-differences time-domain full-wave code is used to simulate the measurements of plasma filaments with fixed frequency O-mode reflectometry. The plasma is modeled by a linear slab plasma plus a Gaussian perturbation propagating in a direction that can vary from poloidal to radial. The plasma background density gradient is chosen in agreement with the steep edge transport barrier of H-...

For the past three years, the Affordable Care Act has required health insurers to pay out a minimum percentage of premiums in medical claims or quality improvement expenses--known as a medical loss ratio (MLR). Insurers with MLRs below the minimum must rebate the difference to consumers. This issue brief finds that total rebates for 2013 were $325 million, less than one-third the amount paid ou...

The Affordable Care Act requires health insurers to justify rate increases that are 10 percent or more for nongrandfathered plans in the individual and small-group markets. Analyzing these filings for renewals taking effect from mid-2013 through mid-2014, this brief finds that the average rate increase submitted for review was 13 percent. Insurers attributed the great bulk of these larger rate ...

This paper explores the goals and implementation of reforms introducing choice of and competition among insurers providing statutory health coverage in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland. In theory, health insurance competition can enhance efficiency in health care administration and delivery only if people have free choice of insurer (consumer mobility), if insurers do not have ...

The purpose of this paper is to assess whether loss reserving adjustment exists in the UK general insurance industry and, if so, what motivates managers to modify reserves. Our research shows that: insurers bias loss reserve accrual to smooth income or to avoid triggering regulatory intervention; insurers underestimate loss reserves to avoid reporting small losses; insurers’ current and expecte...

Since 1995 Australian health insurers have been able to purchase health services pro-actively through negotiating contracts with hospitals, but little is known about their experience of purchasing. This paper examines the current status of purchasing through interviews with senior managers representing all Australian private health insurers. Many of the traditional tools used to generate compet...

We consider a risk process modelled as a compound Poisson process. The ruin probability of this risk process is minimized by the choice of a suitable investment strategy for a capital market index. The optimal strategy is computed using the Bellman equation. We prove the existence of a smooth solution and a verification theorem, and give explicit solutions in some cases with exponential claim s...