Economics of Healthcare

Consider the four health plans below with an eye to choosing one to offer to the company’s employees. Assume that the health plans and their annual per employee premiums are as follows:

Health Plan

Premium, Individual

Premium, Family

Aetna Health

$4,555

$11,428

MetroPlus

$4,267

$10,540

Empire

$4,217

$10,767

Oxford

$6,029

$13,417

The employer will pay 80% of the premium for individual coverage, and the employee will pay the remaining 20% as well as the entire additional premium for family coverage. (The premiums listed above, while realistic in magnitude, are hypothetical and computed solely for the purpose of this project.) All of the plans are managed care plans. Assume that the benefit package is the same across all plans, so there is no difference between them in what services are covered.

You can view the various categories of measures on which health plans are rated (e.g., Access to Care, Adult Living with Illness, etc.). Click each link for a summary chart that presents the performance (usually as a percentage score) of each plan in the group on the relevant measures and how each plan compares to regional and statewide scores.

Submit a 2-page analysis in a Microsoft Word document that outlines the plan you selected and why. Generally, you would select the plan with the highest score, but if you chose a plan with a lower score, explain why. Include the following elements in your analysis:

  • Explain which factors (e.g., price and/or performance measures) were most important to your choice of plan and how you derived the weights for each factor you used.
  • Indicate, on a scale of 1 to 10, how comfortable or confident you are that you made the right choice, with 10 being most confident.

Support your responses with examples.

Cite any sources in APA format.

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Economics of Healthcare

Primary Task Response: Your first task is to post your own Key Assignment Outline to the discussion area so that other students are able to review your plan. Attach your document to the main discussion post, and include any notes you feel are appropriate. The purpose of this assignment is to help improve the quality of the Key Assignment Draft you will complete next week.

Respond to Another Student: Review at least 1 other student’s Key Assignment Outline and provide meaningful feedback. Refrain from general feedback, such as simply stating “good job.” Your feedback to other students is most helpful if you not only point out weak areas but also offer suggestions for improvement. The best feedback takes a 3-stage approach to identify what was done well, weaknesses, and areas for improvement.

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