Health Insurance Markets

Benefit Design & Consumerism

Health insurance markets are changing as employers and consumers increasingly turn from managed care plans—which tend to have narrow provider networks and minimal cost sharing—to preferred provider organizations (PPOs) and consumer-directed health plans (CDHPs). In contrast to typical managed care plans, PPOs and CDHPs tend to offer their enrollees a wider choice of provider, but use much higher deductibles and coinsurance to control utilization. IHP’s work asks what these changes—which have been amplified by federal policies—mean for the cost and quality of health care and for the people who enroll in the newer plans.

For more information please contact Laura Tollen.

Publications September 2006 The Power of Consumer Choice Laura A. Tollen and Jon Stewart Kaiser Permanente Institute for Health Policy, Oakland, CA October 24, 2006 Consumer-Directed Health Care: It's Not Whether The Glass Is Half-Empty, But Why Murray N. Ross, Health Affairs, Web Exclusive: w522 - w554 August 2004 Risk Segmentation Related to the Offering of a Consumer-Directed Health Plan , Laura A. Tollen, Murray N. Ross, and Stephen Poor, Health Services Research 39, no.4, Part II August 2004 Current MSA Theory: Well-Meaning but Futile, G. Halvorson, Health Services Research 39 no.4, Part II: 1119-22 June 19, 2002 How Low Can You Go? The Premium Impact of Reduced Benefits and Increased Cost Sharing, Jason Lee and Laura A. Tollen, Health Affairs Web Exclusive: W-229 – W-241. April 2002 A Temporary Fix? Implications of the Move Away from Comprehensive Health Benefits , Laura A. Tollen and Robert M. Crane, EBRI Issue Brief #244, (Employee Benefit Research Institute) March 20, 2002 Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire, Robert M. Crane and Laura A. Tollen, Health Affairs Web Exclusive: W-155 – W-159.

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