Free for All?: Lessons from the RAND Health Insurance Experiment / Edition 1

by Joseph P. Newhouse

Overview

From 1971 to 1982, researchers at the RAND Corporation devised an experiment to address two key questions in health care financing: how much more medical care will people use if it is provided free of charge? and what are the consequences for their health? This book presents a comprehensive account of the experiment and its findings. It will be an invaluable teaching tool and reference for anyone concerned with health-care policy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674319141
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	02/01/1996
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	504
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Joseph P. Newhouse is the John D. MacArthur Professor of Health Policy and Management, Harvard University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Part I. Introduction

Background

The Design of the Experiment

Part II. Effects of Cost Sharing on Use of Medical Services

Total Annual Per Person Expenditure

Episodes of Treatment

Specific Types of Use

Part III. Effects of Cost Sharing on Health Outcomes

Adult Health Status and Patient Satisfaction

Pediatric Health Status

Part IV. Results at the Health Maintenance Organization

Use of Services

Health and Satisfaction Outcomes

Part V. Lessons from the Health Insurance Experiment

Administrative Lessons

Central Findings and Policy Implications

Appendix A. Health Insurance Study Publications

Appendix B. Further Explanation of Design Decisions

Appendix C. Schedule of Benefits in the Family Health Protection Plan

Appendix D. Comparison of the Finite Selection and Conlisk-Watts Models

Notes

References

Index

Editorial Reviews

This study has more to tell us about health reform than any other that has occurred in the past or is likely to occur in the future. Free for All? represents the most monumental and seminal contribution in health care services research ever.

Health Affairs - Deborah A. Freund

There is little question that the Health Insurance Experiment has had a major influence on research and policy, and this study will prove a very useful reference for economists to the findings from that literature.

Journal of Economic Literature - Randall P. Ellis

[The RAND Study] remains the most important source of evidence about the behavior of individuals in response to health service charges.

British Medical Journal - Charles Normand

[The RAND Study] remains the most important source of evidence about the behavior of individuals in response to health service charges.
— Charles Normand

British Medical Journal

There is little question that the Health Insurance Experiment has had a major influence on research and policy, and this study will prove a very useful reference for economists to the findings from that literature.
— Randall P. Ellis

Journal of Economic Literature

This study has more to tell us about health reform than any other that has occurred in the past or is likely to occur in the future. Free for All? represents the most monumental and seminal contribution in health care services research ever.
— Deborah A. Freund

Health Affairs

Newhouse (health policy and management, Harvard U.), who directed the project, collects and draws conclusions from results dispersed through many journals over many years, regarding the famous health insurance study in which researchers from the RAND Corporation devised an experiment to address two key questions in health care financing: how much more medical care will people use if it is provided free of charge, and what are the consequences for their health? Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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