Health Economics Commons^™

Can Human Capital Explain The Difference In Private Health Insurance Coverage Rates Between Natives And Immigrants?, Benjamin S. White

Undergraduate Economic Review

This paper investigates how human capital variables, especially educational attainment and health disability, affect an immigrant’s probability to have private health insurance. Specifically, is there a convergence to natives’ coverage rates for immigrants as human capital is controlled for? Two probit regressions are used to answer this question, one to analyze the employer provided health insurance market and another to analyze privately purchased health insurance market. The principle finding is that human capital variables are important in determining access to private health insurance. However, a health insurance coverage differential does remain between immigrants and natives.

Creating Learning Systems: Lessons From Public Health Practice-Based Research Networks, Glen P. Mays

Health Management and Policy Presentations

Practice-based research networks (PBRNs) provide powerful mechanisms for implementing research studies that evaluate the health and economic effects of delivery system innovations. This presentation reviews strategies, emerging findings, and lessons learned from PBRNs and related studies conducted in U.S. public health settings. We give special focus to studies that examine multi-organizational and cross-sectoral strategies for population health improvement.

Cost-Effectiveness Of Food And Cash Transfers To Patients Under Anti-Retroviral Treatment In Zambia, Chibamba Mwansakilwa, Gelson Tembo

Southern African Journal of Policy and Development

This study determines the relative cost-effectiveness of food and cash transfers when administered to Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV) / Acquired Immune-Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) patients on Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) in Zambia. The results show that cash transfers are not only cheaper but also unambiguously more cost-effective with respect to nutrition and health outcomes such as body-mass index (BMI) and Cluster of Differentiation 4 (CD4) count. This seems to suggest that, whenever market conditions and institutional capacities (banks, personnel, etc.) permit, cash should be given a higher rating by governments and other programming stakeholders than physical food aid as an instrument for …

Long-Term Health Effects Of Malaria Exposure Around Birth: Evidence From Colonial Taiwan, Simon Chang, Belton Fleisher, Seonghoon Kim, Shi-Yung Liu

Research Collection School Of Economics

In the early 20th century, the Japanese colonial government initiated an island-wide malaria eradication campaign in Taiwan, resulting in not only a rapid decline in malaria across time but also elimination of disparity across regions. Exploiting variations in malaria deaths caused by the campaign, we estimate causal effects of malaria exposure around birth on the health of elderly born in the colonial period. To mitigate potential biases caused by measurement errors and omitted confounders, we employ climatic factors to instrument for malaria deaths. Our findings suggest that people who were exposed to a high malaria risk around birth tend to …

Strengthening The Science Of Public Health Delivery: Complexities In Implementation, Inference & Translation, Glen P. Mays

Health Management and Policy Presentations

Delivery systems for public health programs and policies are diffuse and heterogeneous across the U.S., reflecting wide variation in the capacity to implement population-level health improvement strategies. This lecture examines strategies for evaluating the causes and consequences of variation in public health delivery across the U.S., with a focus on identifying pathways for improving the health and economic effects of policy and practice.

Are Online Pharmacy Prices Really Lower In Mexico?, Thomas M. Fullerton Jr., Adam G. Walke

Departmental Papers (E & F)

Empirical research on international pharmaceutical prices has uncovered numerous interesting commonalities and differences across international markets. This study examines price differences for brand name medicines sold over the Internet in the United States and Mexico. Web sites in both countries advertise their services in English and price their products in dollars. Sample data for 50 topselling medicines are from October 2011 for equal dosages on a per unit basis, exclusive of shipping fees, handling charges, and taxes. For a few medicines, the savings available to consumers who purchase them from companies in Mexico are very large. For most medicines in …

The Influence Of State Policy And Proximity To Medical Services On Health Outcomes, Jing Li

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper examines two factors that help to explain geographic variation in health outcomes. The first factor concerns proximity to medical services. The second factor is state-specific health care policy that may impede access to nearby medical services. Four key findings are obtained. First, the effect of local doctors on reducing mortality rates of various diseases in a county attenuates with distance. Second, at approximately the same distance, in-state doctors contribute more to lowering mortality rates in the primary county than do out-of-state doctors. Third, the lesser impact of nearby out-of-state doctors is further reduced when the primary state adopts …

Mountain Monitor - 4th Quarter 2013, Kenan Fikri, Mark Muro

Mountain Monitor Quarterly

The quarter’s Mountain Monitor finds that the pace of economic recovery in the Mountain West region’s major metropolitan areas converged toward that of the rest of the nation in the last quarter of 2013.

While quarterly performance on the Monitor’s four indicators of economic recovery—employment, output, the unemployment rate, and house prices—varied considerably across the 10 major metro areas of the region, their combined performance broadly slowed to track with the rate of national economic recovery. The quarter’s average job growth remained unchanged in the region at 0.4 percent as the national economy caught up. The gap between the national …

Which Extramural Scientists Were Funded By Nih From Its Arra Funds?, Martin D. Sorin, Randall Hannum

Publications and Research

NIH distributed $10 billion of ARRA research funds among Principal Investigators (PIs) in 2009-2010. We studied how well the program achieved the goal of creating and retaining jobs. To analyze the distribution of ARRA funding among PIs, they were categorized in two ways: One was based on their history of research funding; the other on the type of funding, ARRA and non-ARRA, each received in 2009 and 2010. These classifications provide insights into who received ARRA funding and how many research PI jobs were created or retained. We found that the majority of ARRA award recipients already had grants and …

The Lasting Impact Of Parental Early Life Malnutrition On Their Offspring: Evidence From The China Great Leap Forward Famine, Seonghoon Kim, Quheng Deng, Belton M. Fleisher, Shi Li

Research Collection School Of Economics

We investigate whether the effects of parents’ in utero malnutrition extend to the second generation (their children). Specifically, we explore whether the second generation’s level of schooling is negatively impacted by their parents’ malnutrition in utero, using the China Famine as a natural experiment. We find that, the impact of mother’s in utero malnutrition due to the Famine reduced second generation male and female entrance into junior secondary school by about 5–7 percentage points. We measure famine severity with provincial excess death rates instrumented by measures of adverse climate conditions, which corrects for possible biases induced by measurement errors and …

Selective Contracting In Prescription Drugs: The Benefits Of Pharmacy Networks, Joanna Shepherd

Faculty Articles

Selective contracting in health care involves contractual arrangements among insurers and health care providers that give covered individuals a financial incentive to obtain health care from a limited panel of providers. Although selective contracting has been an important strategy of health insurance plans for decades, it has only recently expanded to prescription drug coverage. Drug plans now create pharmacy networks that channel customers to in-network pharmacies. Pharmacies compete to be part of the networks by offering discounts on the drugs they sell to covered customers and drug plans. Although networks can lower prescription drug costs for drug plans and consumers, …

Understand Management Of Public-Private Partnership In A Secondary Private Hospital Providing Services To Citizens Registered Under Different Insurance Schemes, Rani Sachadev

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

In light of the recent public-private partnership law reenacment in various industries, it seems that the healthcare's public insurances would largely benefit from increase participation of the private sector but since there has not been any published framework on management of public-private partnership in public health insurance, this study has been undertaken to shine a light on financial and medical care delivery in a secondary private hospital. This study was conducted in a secondary private hospital located in Bangkok providing UC, SSS and for-profit medical care to citizens. This is a study aimed to understand the management strategies regarding finance …

Macroeconomic Effects And Microeconomic Determinants Of Fertility, Maria R. Apostolova-Mihaylova

Theses and Dissertations--Economics

This dissertation focuses on the relationship between the education-based fertility gap and economic growth and on policy as a determinant of fertility.

In the first essay I evaluate the impact of differential fertility (the difference between fertility rates of women with high educational attainment and women with low educational attainment) on economic growth by accounting for critical marginal effects and the general level of educational attainment in a given country. I also examine the possibility that this effect varies based on level of inequality and income levels. I find that for a less developed country with high income inequality, higher …

Hospital Treatment Rates And Spill-Over Effects: Does Ownership Matter?, Badi H. Baltagi, Yin -Fang Yen

Center for Policy Research

This paper studies the effect of hospital ownership on treatment rates allowing for spatial correlation among hospitals. Competition among hospitals and knowledge spillovers generate significant externalities which we try to capture using the spatial Durbin model. Using a panel of 2342 hospitals in the 48 continental states observed over the period 2005 to 2008, we find significant spatial correlation of medical service treatment rates among hospitals. We also get mixed results on the effect of hospital ownership on treatment rates that depends upon the market structure where the hospital is located and which varies by treatment type.

The Impact Of Fitness Technology On Health Outcomes, Megan C. Kelley

CMC Senior Theses

Using 2014 data compiled from a sample of Claremont McKenna undergraduate students, I examine the effect that fitness technology (i.e., mobile and wearable technology) has on users' health outcomes. Specifically, I find no effect of mobile or wearable use on self-reported health. However, I do find some evidence of mobile use on weight but not wearable. Applying a basic OLS regression analysis, I show that mobile users tend to be heavier than non-mobile users irrespective of gender. Furthermore, I find that contemporaneous health on prior mobile use show higher weight levels compared to non- mobile prior users. Such findings provide …

Nets Or Vaccines: Malaria Vaccine Research, David Ernenwein

Pepperdine Policy Review

The global battle against malaria has seen many victories in the developed world but the undeveloped world and particularly Africa continue to suffer from this disease. The development of the RTS,S vaccine and ongoing research into additional vaccines have been touted as the solution to the crisis. However, the news of the successful RTS,S trial should be viewed with caution. Concerns over the effectiveness of the existing vaccine and the cost of further development may not be justified, especially given the known effectiveness of current treatment methods. This research must be watched carefully lest the allure of the vaccine blind …

The Effects Of Hospital Consolidation On Hospital Financial Performance And The Potential Trade-Off Of Hospital Consolidation For Society, Aaron W. Mckee

Senior Independent Study Theses

This study examines the impact of hospital consolidation on the financial performance of consolidating hospitals. In doing so, this study also addresses the potential trade-off of hospital consolidation for society between decreased competition and improved efficiency. Based on economic theory, we hypothesize that hospital consolidation leads to an improvement in hospital financial performance by decreasing competition, which allows consolidating hospitals to charge higher prices, and by increasing efficiency, which lowers the costs of providing a given level of services for consolidating hospitals. Furthermore, we hypothesize that consolidation produces a competition/efficiency trade-off for society, as illustrated by the Williamson Trade-Off Model. …

The Fate Of Local Food Systems In The Global Industrialization Market: Food And Social Justice In The Rural South, Wylin D. Wilson, Reuben C. Warren, Stephen O. Sodeke, Norbert Wilson

Professional Agricultural Workers Journal

This paper investigates the connection between local food systems, health disparities, and social justice in the rural South. It begins with the relationship between food insecurity and health disparities that disproportionately affect racial and ethnic minority populations, and non-minority women and children. First, we discuss the concept of health disparities within the context of bioethics and public health ethics in order to explore the link between the food system and health as a social justice issue. Second, we define health disparities and discuss how they have historically plagued and disadvantaged racial minority populations. Third, we examine these disparities within the …

The National Longitudinal Survey Of Public Health Systems: Selected Findings And Applications, Glen P. Mays

Health Management and Policy Presentations

This presentation reviews the National Longitudinal Survey of Public Health Systems and its applicability for monitoring the effects of the Affordable Care Act on public health delivery within the U.S.

Mountain Monitor - 3rd Quarter 2013, Kenan Fikri, Mark Muro

Mountain Monitor Quarterly

The quarter’s Mountain Monitor marks the four-year anniversary of Brookings Mountain West's quarterly tracking of the uneven pace of recovery across the major metro areas of the Intermountain West and it finds that, although the region continues to outperform the national economy the rate of recovery slowed moderately in the region’s metro areas.

As a group, Mountain region metro areas advanced on all four indicators of economic recovery tracked by the Monitor—employment, output, unemployment, and house prices—but their progress was more restrained in the third quarter of 2013 than it was in the second.

Beneath the regional headline of moderating …