Theoretical Foundations of Health Insurance

Catalog description

Health insurance differs from other lines of insurance in important ways, including the nature of moral hazard, spillovers to and from the market for medical care, and the dominant role played by employers. This course focuses on the theoretical foundations of insurance theory as applied to health insurance contracts and markets. It covers a variety of topics related to the provision of health insurance, including cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis, the rationale for insuring health risks, efficient insurance contracts in the presence of symmetric information, moral hazard, adverse selection, physician agency, and the causes and consequences of employer sponsorship of health plans. The course will be taught in a lecture-discussion format to encourage interaction.