The Rand Health Insurance Experiment: Cost Sharing In Health Care
The RAND Health Insurance Experiment
Sharing is caring, right? The logical answer would be that to share is to expense something for the sake of another and to expense for the sake of another is to demonstrate compassion. But then again that is contingent on if there are strings attached or an ulterior motive. The RAND Health Insurance Experiment (HIE) is the largest health policy study of its kind in U.S. history. In fact, it is the only experimental study of how cost-sharing measures affect people's use of medical services, the quality of care received, and their health status (Brook, et al., 2006).
The effects of cost sharing have been center stage of the national health care debate since the early 1970’s. The effort then was free, universal …show more content…
Families were randomly given one of five types of health insurance plans designed explicitly for the purpose of the study. One of the five plans offered free care under a fee-for-service plan meaning the patients fee portion to pay was zero. Three of the plans encompassed a tiered-like level comprised of 25 percent, 50 percent, or 95 percent of cost sharing under a fee-for-service the families had to pay for medical services. The fifth and last plan offered free care from a nonprofit health maintenance organization (HMO). For families with an extreme limited amount of income enrolled in the cost sharing plans had their fees capped at one of three levels based off their income or at $1,000 annually, any of which was lower of the …show more content…
Perfect example, free, universal health insurance for all Americans would seem like the right thing to do, bringing everyone equal access to health insurance but the equity part is lacking. The perception and expectation that all is well in giving a dog a bone will only keep it hush until there is no more bone to chew. Everyone is getting a shoe (health insurance) but is everyone also getting a shoe that fits? Equality and equity complement one another when paired appropriately and the HIE proves so. Bearing in mind the lens of perception of the three most important factors in health care; access, cost and quality care. Both perception and expectancy are something that comes from the beliefs of an individual and perception is what the individual is left with after their experience of the expected and unexpected such as getting health insurance but not enough providers to meet the demand, or no access to a medical home, or knowledge of how to use the
Sharing is caring, right? The logical answer would be that to share is to expense something for the sake of another and to expense for the sake of another is to demonstrate compassion. But then again that is contingent on if there are strings attached or an ulterior motive. The RAND Health Insurance Experiment (HIE) is the largest health policy study of its kind in U.S. history. In fact, it is the only experimental study of how cost-sharing measures affect people's use of medical services, the quality of care received, and their health status (Brook, et al., 2006).
The effects of cost sharing have been center stage of the national health care debate since the early 1970’s. The effort then was free, universal …show more content…
Families were randomly given one of five types of health insurance plans designed explicitly for the purpose of the study. One of the five plans offered free care under a fee-for-service plan meaning the patients fee portion to pay was zero. Three of the plans encompassed a tiered-like level comprised of 25 percent, 50 percent, or 95 percent of cost sharing under a fee-for-service the families had to pay for medical services. The fifth and last plan offered free care from a nonprofit health maintenance organization (HMO). For families with an extreme limited amount of income enrolled in the cost sharing plans had their fees capped at one of three levels based off their income or at $1,000 annually, any of which was lower of the …show more content…
Perfect example, free, universal health insurance for all Americans would seem like the right thing to do, bringing everyone equal access to health insurance but the equity part is lacking. The perception and expectation that all is well in giving a dog a bone will only keep it hush until there is no more bone to chew. Everyone is getting a shoe (health insurance) but is everyone also getting a shoe that fits? Equality and equity complement one another when paired appropriately and the HIE proves so. Bearing in mind the lens of perception of the three most important factors in health care; access, cost and quality care. Both perception and expectancy are something that comes from the beliefs of an individual and perception is what the individual is left with after their experience of the expected and unexpected such as getting health insurance but not enough providers to meet the demand, or no access to a medical home, or knowledge of how to use the