Dominated Options in Health Insurance Plans

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Liu, Chenyuan; Sydnor, Justin
• 署名单位: Tsinghua University; University of Wisconsin System; University of Wisconsin Madison
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-ECONOMIC POLICY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7731
• DOI: 10.1257/pol.20190312
• 发表日期: 2022
• 页码: 277-300
• 关键词: choice; selection; MARKETS

摘要

Prior research documents that there are sometimes dominated options in health plan menus, but is that common? We analyze Kaiser Family Foundation data on health plans that firms offer to their employees. For firms offering both a high-deductible and lower-deductible health plan, 62 percent of the time the high-deductible option has lower maximum spending risk for the employee. We estimate that the high-deductible plan dominates at roughly half of firms. We discuss potential mechanisms behind these surprising patterns and find support both for two explanations: widespread adverse-selection pricing and some employers also differentially favoring high-deductible plans.