Pricing German health insurance products with only few insured persons

Background: With rapid increase in the marketplace information, falling inter-product differences, and growing complexity in products, confusion is becoming a major problem for the customers globally. Similar problems are also faced by customers in India where there has been a considerable increase in the marketing of private voluntary health insurance (PVHI) products. The study examines sources of customer confusion (similarity, over-choice, ambiguity, and others’ opinion/thoughts) and their impact on customers’ decision-making uncertainty and decision postponement for the PVHI products. Methodology: A conceptual model is developed to study the relationships between constructs of customer confusion (similarity, over-choice, ambiguity, and others’ opinion/thoughts), decision-making uncertainty, and decision postponement. The scale comprising 21 statements is used to measure constructs of customers’ confusion, customers’ decision-making uncertainty, and customers’ decision postponement. Using purposive and proportionate quota-based sampling procedure, 259 responses of patients visiting general practitioner clinics were collected from the urban town of Lucknow located in India. The reliability and validity of the model were examined using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The hypothesized relationships were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Finding and conclusion: Results revealed that similarity confusion, ambiguity confusion, and confusion stemming from others opinion/thoughts to have direct positive effect on customer decision-making uncertainty. The results further confirmed similarity confusion, ambiguity confusion, and over-choice confusion lead to decision postponement for PVHI products. The results of the study may be helpful to insurers and healthcare practitioners in understanding the key sources of customer confusion in health insurance products and related consequences on customers’ decision making. Originality/value: To the best of author’s knowledge, in the health insurance setting, it is the first study which has synthesized stimuli-based (ambiguity, over-choice and similarity) and situational-based (presence of others’ opinions/thoughts) dimensions of confusion into a single model to examine their effect on customers’ decision making.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of service quality, customer’s satisfaction and religiosity on customer’s patronage decision toward health insurance products. The paper also assesses the influence of religiosity on customer’s patronage decision. The influence of customers’ satisfaction as mediation between service quality and customer’s patronage decision was also measured.Design/methodology/approachA structured questionnaire was developed and administered to a sample of 200 respondents. This research applied the exploratory factor analysis, the confirmatory factor analysis and the structural equation modeling to test the proposed hypotheses.FindingsThe findings indicate that customers’ religiosity behavior has a significant influence on customer’s patronage decision for selecting health insurance products. The results also indicated that the role of customer’s satisfaction as a mediator in between the relationship of service quality and customer’s patronage decision is significant.Research limitations/implicationsThis research is a cross-sectional study consisting of 200 respondents. In addition, the elements of the sample were Malaysian customers using health insurance products and services.Practical implicationsThis study suggests that customers of health insurance products are more concerned with perceived service quality and perceived satisfaction. The role of religiosity also plays a dominant role. As a result, managers of the health insurance service providers need to focus more on benefits of service varieties centered toward their target customers in order to gain higher patronage decision of health insurance products.Originality/valueThe study sought to address the gap of religiosity aspects in health insurance products through intensive literature and offer a conceptual framework that tested service quality, customer’s satisfaction and religiosity in one integrated model under the perspective of health insurance industry. More importantly, it also examines the influence of religiosity on patronage behavior, thus shedding insights into the opportunities for understanding consumers in detail.

The research is focused on finding whether the insurance companies are providing health insurance to their clients are enough to meet their expectations or the employees are bound to pay the premium for availing the employer-based health insurance. Another part of the study is focused on finding the financial profitability of health insurance companies particularly, from the health insurance product they are offering to their clients. The premium these companies charging are enough to generate the profitability of health insurance companies or there is not any significant impact on their profitability from this product. It is obvious that a sick employee would be less interested in his or her work and the ratio of absenteeism will increase. The main purpose is to evaluate if providing health insurance is a profitable activity for both sides. This research was conducted through primary data; the data has been collected with the help of adopted questionnaire and a sample size is of 70 respondents. It is found from the research that employees are moderately satisfied with employer-based insurance facility and there is not any significant difference between premium paid and utilized. So, insurance companies are earning less from health insurance product.

ObjectiveThe 2004 amendment to the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health 2002 regulations (COSHH 2004) introducing workplace exposure limits (WELs) was enacted in the UK in 2005. This study aimed...

Biosimilar low molecular weight heparin products.

Nowadays, business operations are rapidly changing, demanding companies to constantly grasp market trends, utilize modern achievements in business, and have suitable business strategies and products to survive and thrive in the market. Insurance businesses in Vietnam are also following this trend. Under the development of the economy, politics, and society, the cost pressure on people's livelihoods is increasing. Particularly, healthcare costs in hospitals are a financial risk because not everyone has strong financial resources to cover accidents, illnesses, or diseases. Choosing health insurance is a priority for many people to protect their current and future financial risks. This presents an opportunity for insurance businesses to develop the market, assert their position in the insurance business market, increase revenue to survive amidst increasingly challenging business operations. However, the process of selling health insurance faces numerous difficulties and barriers such as consumer habits, intense competition, legal barriers, and more. Hence, there's a need for solutions to seize opportunities and overcome these challenges in developing health insurance products to aid the growth of insurance businesses. This article focuses on: (1) An overview of health insurance; (2) The current situation of health insurance business in Vietnamese insurance companies; (3) Identifying opportunities and challenges in selling health insurance products; (4) Proposing solutions to develop the business of health insurance products for insurance companies.

The private health insurance has taken off over the recent years, boosted by the pandemic of COVID 19, setting the pace for other similar products, over a market severely dominated by MTPL. However, there were numerous factors influencing this growth, starting with state policies, insurance companies’ management along with welfare and socio-demographic factors. This paper addresses some of the later by focusing on age and notoriety, aiming to determine the possible correlation between socio-demographic variables such as age and health insurance products. The data used were provided by a recent study, conducted by the Institute of Financial Studies, an organization specialized on nonbanking financial system, gathered through a questionnaire, focused on a relevant group, considering all the necessary indicators regarding age, financial situation, area of living, studies, etc.

Purpose: This research aim to investigate the influence of service quality attributes towards customers’ loyalty on health insurance products. In addition, this research also tested the mediation role of perceived value in between service quality and customers’ loyalty on health insurance products. Design/methodology/approach: Based on the literature review, this research developed a conceptual model of customers loyalty embedded with service quality and perceived value. The study surveyed 342 healthcare insurance customers. Apart from assessing the reliability and validity of the constructs through confirmatory factor analysis, this research also used structural equation modelling (SEM) approach to test the proposed hypothesis. Findings: The results from the inferential statistics revealed that the healthcare insurance customers are highly influenced by service quality followed by the perceived value in reaching their loyalty towards a particular health insurance service provider. Research limitations/implications: The sample for this study is based on health insurance customers only and it is suggested that future studies enlarge the scope to include others type of customers of different insurance products. Practical implications: In order to encourage the customers to more loyal towards their service providers, this research will add value for the mangers to understand the items of service quality and considering the perceived value of the target customers in order to optimize their loyalty. As whole, the outcome of this research will assist managers for better understanding of the customers’ loyalty antecedents under the perspective of healthcare insurance products. Originality/value: This paper has tried to provide a comprehensive understanding about customers’ loyalty under the perspective of service quality and perceived values context in the Malaysian health care insurance industry. Since there was a lack of such research in Malaysian health insurance context, this research can provide theoretical contribution and managerial basis for future researches as well as implications for the managers. Yet, till now research in this sector under Malaysian context do not appear adequately to take into account service quality, perceived values and customers loyalty factors.

The pursuit of the activity of health insurers under the conditions of global economic and health crisis due to the announced COVID-19 pandemic, of severe competition, of globalization and continuous commitment to achieve high yields from the administration of the funds of health insurers, creates conditions and prerequisites to develop new health insurances. As a result of the announced COVID-19 pandemic, health insurers are facing a serious hazard related to the liabilities they have undertaken under the health insurances. There is a large-scale occurrence of the risk assumed by health insurers in the situation of a global health crisis due to the announced COVID-19 pandemic. Generation of new ideas and views with regard to the profile of the new health insurance product; its development; the establishment of strategy for the product’s market development; the marketing tests of the product; the quality and the market potential of the product are among the main aspects for analysis of health insurer’s competitive power upon launching new health insurances products. The aim is to mitigate the large-scale occurrence rate of the health insurance risk in order to enable health insurers to flawlessly fulfil their obligations to the health-insured persons. Insurers that demonstrate financial stability, solvency and good financial performance will have better chance to succeed and survive under the new conditions of a global health and financial crisis.

With full implementation of the federal Affordable Care Act, millions of previously uninsured reproductive-aged women will have access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services. Cost and lack of insurance have been cited by young women as a primary reason for their poor utilization of contraception and other preventive SRH services. In addition to cost, another important barrier to uptake of these services is patient literacy. Women who cannot understand the newly available insurance products are unlikely to use them. It is estimated that one-third of the US adult population lack the literacy skills needed to use printed health information. The uninsured especially are likely to have low health literacy. Any benefit to women from expanded contraceptive access under the federal Affordable Care Act requires provision of educational resources that are easy to comprehend. Following Massachusetts’ state-level health care reform implementation in 2007 and availability of new health insurance products in that state, young women in need of SRH services expressed confusion over coverage of contraception. To address this need, a plain-language Web site titled “My Little Black Book for Sexual Health” was developed in 2010 to help young women and help them identify and use the newly available health insurance products. The aim of this study was to evaluate the health literacy demands and usability of the Web site among 8 women aged 18 to 26 years, with the goal of informing modifications to improve the site. The authors performed an evaluation of the literacy demands of the Web site’s content and tested the site’s accessibility and usability in a health communications laboratory. The participants were diverse with respect race/ethnicity, language spoken, education, and employment status. After examining the Web site, each was interviewed for 30 to 45 minutes. Participants found the Web site to be visually appealing and understood its overall design concept. However, the literacy demands were high (13th-grade reading level), and all participants had severe problems navigating through the Web site. Based on this assessment, the site was modified to make it more usable and understandable to women of all health literacy levels. To close the gap between access to and utilization of preventive SRH services now available under expanded federal health insurance coverage, customized educational resources must be developed that are culturally appropriate, visually appealing, easy to navigate, and written at an appropriate literacy level.

From bioequivalence to biosimilars: How much do regulators dare?

In addition to government‐sponsored health insurance schemes (GSHIS), many microfinance institutions (MFIs) and community‐based organizations (CBOs) in India have started microinsurance health insurance schemes. These include health mutuals for the benefit of their members. This article explores these as an alternative health‐financing model in India. A literature search produced 926 relevant publications. After applying advanced search options and removing duplicates, abstracts of 324 papers were read and then 47 papers reviewed, and finally 29 were included in this review. Five key themes emerged: (1) “Health for all” arguments and opportunities in favour of micro health insurance schemes; (2) micro health insurance products; (3) impact of micro health insurance schemes; (4) systematic irregularities and regulatory framework; and (5) innovation. We also look at the emerging market patterns that will define micro health insurance products. Health mutuals can effectively provide mass health protection to the poor and not so poor through efficient business models, bespoke benefit packages and multiple payment plans. They can reduce financial vulnerability and improve health outcomes. While GSHIS can cover a substantial tranche of expected health‐related costs, the balance can be supplemented through innovative financial products that reduce financial risk.

The prediction of intestinal absorption of various drugs based on computer simulations has been a reality. However, in vivo pharmacokinetic simulations and virtual bioequivalence evaluation based on GastroPlus™ have not been found. This study aimed to simulate plasma concentrations with different dissolution profiles and run population simulations to evaluate the bioequivalence of test and reference products of atorvastation using GastroPlus software. The dissolution profiles of the reference and test products of atorvastatin (20 mg tablets), and clinical plasma concentration-time data of the reference product were used for the simulations. The results showed that the simulated models were successfully established for atorvastatin tablets. Population simulation results indicated that the test formulation was bioequivalent to the reference formulation. The findings suggest that modelling is an essential tool to demonstrating the possibility of pharmacokinetic and bioequivalence for atorvastatin. It will contribute to understanding the potential risks during the development of generic products.

Nitrous oxide is a gas which is often used in the production of whipped cream, but can also be inhaled as a recreational dissociative drug. Usage rates of recreational nitrous oxide appear to be increasing in Australia. This study aims to characterise the online nitrous oxide marketplace in Australia to understand the efficacy of current legislation and inform future legislative changes. Google Trends data were used to identify top search terms used to find sites selling nitrous oxide. Sites were then identified from these search terms in Google and Bing, which together hold over 98 % of Australia's search engine market. Each identified site was then screened and scraped for product and other relevant data using custom Python scripts. A total of 93 websites were identified for inclusion, with the top 49 websites fully scraped for products. Overall, 997 products were identified, of which 696 (69.8 %) contained nitrous oxide. Relatively few sites verified the age of users, and many sites provided potentially dangerous bulk pricing incentives. Flavourings were commonly added to nitrous oxide products, potentially attracting younger audiences. These data indicate that legislative change is desperately needed in Australia to minimise the availability of rapidly delivered online-derived nitrous oxide. Legislative bodies should consider a range of supply and demand-based regulations to minimise the well understood personal and societal harms related to nitrous oxide use.

The growing interest in insurance poses a threat to insurance companies. As the number of individuals seeking insurance coverage increases, the number of individuals adversely selecting the insurer also increases, which can lead to the insurance product being unprofitable. Thus, this study explores designing an insurance product – a combined life insurance and health insurance product that will reflect the actual claims of an individual to his/her policy – that will hopefully help prevent unprofitability of the insurance product. This is done by applying incentives and penalization, or the bonus-malus system, to the insurance benefit while leaving the premium constant. Assuming that premiums for life insurance and health insurance are constant, transition and pricing models are derived. Considering two forms of combination of life and health insurance: a combined life and hospitalization income insurance and a combined life and medical insurance, we illustrate the derived model assuming Makeham distribution for life insurance claims and Poisson distribution and gamma distribution for the hospitalization income insurance and medical insurance claims, respectively. The proposed design gives a new framework for combining life and health insurance, as well as a methodology for combining other types of insurances.