Health insurance, loss

Liu et al. (2002) also calculated the economic cost of an HIV infection for the employer. Based on a simulation model to predict the comprehensive lifetime economic costs of HIV-infected workers to an employer, they predicted total lifetime costs of US 90,000 for the employer, whereas 2/3 are direct expenses on health insurance premium, life insurance premium, benefits, etc., and 1/3 loss of productivity. 

There is some controversy in the theoretical literature about the relationship between health insurance and efficiency. Puig-Junoy3 has conducted an excellent review of this issue. The scope of the welfare loss associated with health insurance has also been the object of empirical research with econometric procedures. 

Feldstein, M. (1973), The welfare loss of excess health insurance , Journal of Political Economy, 81, 251-80. 

Mandates also have shortcomings. Ifthe mandates are binding on employers or insurers, they require decisions to be made that would not be made in their absence, and they may lead to loss of insurance coverage and/or lower wages. Loss of coverage may result because the mandates raise insurance premiums.As premiums rise, less insurance is demanded (Cutler and Zeckhauser 2000). " Mandates may also depress wages. Employers are likely to be indifferent about how they compensate employees but rather are concerned about total compensation per employee (Pauly 1998). Thus, ifthe cost of health insurance increases, wages are lower than they would be absent the increase. 

Period allowed to an insured to inform an insurer of a loss. Typically insurance policies require immediate written notice or notice as soon as practical. Different types of policies may have their own time periods. Health insurance policies generally require notice within 20 days, windstorm insurance policies within 10 days, and... 

Injury rates Health statistics Direct costs Illness rates Investment return Insurance loss ratios Severity rates... 

Climate change will affect, and in some cases is already affecting, most major types of insurance products. Insurers will feel the impact of climate change on property and casualty insurance, where the insurer bears the risk of a loss suffered directly by the policy holder. These property and casualty claims include not only damage to insured property as a direct result of weather but also claims for business interruptions and other consequences of weather-induced events. Also, health and life insurers are going to face increasing costs. 

This welfare loss implies inefficiency. Moral hazard gives rise to an inefficient reallocation of consumption, channelling it towards pharmaceuticals and away from other goods and services, both health care and others, which are not covered by insurance. Preventive services - sport, nutrition - become underused. 

In the 1970s and 1980s in the USA, the need for health cost containment and the alarming empirical estimates on the extent of moral hazard advised an increase in the co-payment rate for health services. Thus, Feldstein5 estimated that if the co-insurance rate were raised from 33 per cent to 67 per cent, the costs incurred due to welfare loss would fall much more than the benefits derived from reducing the risk. Subsequently, Feldman and Dowd,6 using data from the Rand experiment in the 1980s, reached similar conclusions. 

The type of education or management service offered may also influence compensation. For example, not all third-party payers cover preventive health education services such as weight-loss counseling or smoking cessation. If the service is not covered, the patient is personally responsible for the fees associated with the program. If it is not already known if the insurance carrier will or will not consider these services under the health plan, it would be prudent to contact the carrier before providing the service to a specific patient. In this way, the patient is aware of whether the services will be covered or if the patient will be responsible for the charges. 

When a therapist is evaluating a patient who demonstrates intermittent loss of impulse control, it is important to look for the sequence of events that kindled the condition. Sometimes, one discovers an obsessional antecedent to the loss of control, and this may respond very well to antiobsessional medication. The woman in the example that follows could have had an intermittent explosive disorder, a personality disorder, or other diagnoses but given her poverty and lack of health care insurance or access, she would probably have received no treatment. Had she been wealthy, she might have received psychotherapy, which may have helped, given time. However, medication management did result in prompt remission of her symptoms, and it may have saved her life and that of her son. In some cases, medication consultation for a patient with one of the impulse control disorders can be a life-saving collaboration between therapist and physician (see case example below). 

Enhanced Worker Health and Safety Reduced use of toxic substances in the workplace is a major aspect of pollution prevention that improves air quality, water quality, and the safety of the work environment by reducing the likelihood of leaks, spills, and releases. These steps result in cost savings through preventing the loss of materials and decreased insurance rates by reducing medical claims and disability leave. Better labor relations also result from improved worker safety. 

From a broader policy standpoint, defendants are better able to bear the cost of injury resulting from the manufacture of a defective product. As was said by Justice Traynor in Escola, [t]he cost of an iiyuiy and the loss of time or health may be an overwhelming misfortune to the person iqjured, and a needless one, for the risk of injury can be insured by the manufacturer and distributed among the public as a cost of doing business. (24 Cal.2d p. 462, 150 P.2d p. 441 see also... 

If the man or men who have been specially trained for a particular job or jobs are temporarily or permanently removed from the operation as a result of ill health, accidents, or fires, the process suffers. Therefore, the costs of an operation or process may be increased appreciably in a large number of ways, particularly as -regards the items mentioned above loss of production, impairment of product quality, insurance costs, disability claims, loss of service of trained men, and the costs of training other men. 

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