Medical Premiums Research Articles

The Pros and Cons of Covering Lifestyle Drugs

The purchase of ‘lifestyle’ enhancing therapies by purchasers such as patients and insurers is projected by some to double the level of US spending on pharmaceuticals over the coming 5 to 10 years. Health plans struggling with the balance between the ability to increase medical premiums and the escalation of medical costs have taken a tough stance on the coverage of these therapies which, in the opinion of many, are not medically necessary for most of the US population. Regardless of whether current health insurance coverage policies survive, the bulk of the spending for these agents is likely to be passed on to employers through increased premium payments or become the responsibility of the consumers themselves.

Managed Care and the Competitive Market in Health Care

THE STRENGTHENING of competitive market forces in recent years deserves some of the credit for the recent marked deceleration in the annual increases in national health care expenditures. But several informed analysts believe that the medical insurance premium cycle is once again turning up, which would be a prelude to higher total expenditures. 1 The recent moderation in annual cost increases reflected, in the first instance, the price-focused efforts of large corporate enterprises to moderate their health care benefit costs; the increasing surpluses in hospital beds and underemployed specialists that enabled the rapidly growing managed care companies to negotiate substantial discounts with key providers, physicians, and hospitals; the enthusiasm of the booming stock market to finance the expansion of the rapidly growing managed care sector; and the increasing preference of the sick elderly to be treated at home rather than in nursing homes, which has fueled a large expansion in

Antecedents of Employee Benefit Level Satisfaction: A Test of a Model

Both employer- and employee-provided data from a sample of 122 full-time library employees were used to examine a preliminary theoretical model of the antecedents of employee benefit level satisfaction. Although the variables in the model accounted for over 50% of the variance in benefit level satisfaction, the specific form of the model was not supported; the results did not support a discrepancy model in which benefit level satisfaction was based on the difference between the perceived level of benefits that should be received and the perceived level of benefits received. The variables most highly related to benefit level satisfaction were benefit administration, benefit comparisons (perceived inputs and outcomes of referent others) and employees’ cost for the medical insurance premium (which was negatively related). Data concerning employees’ knowledge of the benefits they receive, limitations of the study, implications for the management of benefit programs, and suggestions for future research are presented.

Antecedents of employee benefit level satisfaction: A test of a model

Both employer- and employee-provided data from a sample of 122 full-time library employees were used to examine a preliminary theoretical model of the antecedents of employee benefit level satisfaction. Although the variables in the model accounted for over 50% of the variance in benefit level satisfaction, the specific form of the model was not supported; the results did not support a discrepancy model in which benefit level satisfaction was based on the difference between the perceived level of benefits that should be received and the perceived level of benefits received. The variables most highly related to benefit level satisfaction were benefit administration, benefit comparisons (perceived inputs and outcomes of referent others) and employees' cost for the medical insurance premium (which was negatively related). Data concerning employees' knowledge of the benefits they receive, limitations of the study, implications for the management of benefit programs, and suggestions for future research are presented.

The Income Tax as Insurance: The Casualty Loss and Medical Expense Deductions and the Exclusion of Medical Insurance Premiums

Whether personal income tax deductions are appropriate refinements to the concept of income or unwarranted tax expenditures continues to be the subject of debate. The casualty loss and medical expense deductions are frequently justified on the ground that ability to pay is reduced by largely unavoidable expenditures or losses. This article reconsiders the question taking account of the availability of private insurance, which is in fact widespread for relevant losses in both areas. When individuals can insure, the second level of insurance implicit in the casualty loss and medical expense deductions distorts consumption choices and insurance decisions. In particular, individuals may be more exposed to losses because of tax deductions commonly believed to mitigate them. Given the option, individuals would prefer a regime that eliminated the deductions and offered correspondingly lower tax rates.

WASHINGTON NEWS

<h3>Ways and Means Action.—</h3> The House Ways and Means Committee, by a party-line vote of 17 to 8, approved the Administration's King-Anderson proposal and a national medical insurance plan for the elderly. Under the legislation, for which the overall cost would be more than $5 billion, social security taxes would be increased to finance up to 60 days of hospital stay plus other benefits. Older persons could also have $3 a month deducted from their social security checks as their contribution toward a medical insurance premium. The government would pay $3, too. In addition to the health care for the elderly provisions, the House Ways and Means Committee bill provides an increase in social security cash benefits, and an expansion of the Kerr-Mills law to cover children from families of limited income and their parents, and blind and disabled persons. Self-employed physicians would be brought under social security. The committee

Medical Premiums

Medical Premiums

XXI. Medical premium of fifty guineas offered

XXI. Medical premium of fifty guineas offered