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Dec. 2 Conference: Transformation of Competition in Health Care
Media Advisory
Nov. 22, 2005
Health care market competition is moving from a model of economic "agents"—insurers and employers—acting on consumers’ behalf to a model where consumers are expected to act for themselves. However, even as some employers hope to extricate themselves from health insurance altogether, others are becoming more involved—bringing quality improvement and supply-chain management principles to health insurance purchasing. And, while some consumers gravitate toward wider-choice consumer-directed plans, others are looking with renewed interest at narrower network plans that may provide a better value in exchange for less provider choice. The conference will explore how the roles of consumers and their agents are changing; what would help consumers be more active and discriminating health insurance and health care purchasers; and how this shift in responsibility may influence health care quality and costs.
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Copies of the November/December issue of Health Affairs,
"Rethinking Health Reform," will be distributed at the conference.
Supported by Kaiser Permanente and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the
issue features 18 articles on health care reform ranging from an analysis
of the policy behind existing health care coverage trends to debates on
competition, consumerism and quality.
The Center for Studying Health System Change is a nonpartisan policy research organization committed to providing objective and timely insights on the nation’s changing health system to help inform policy makers and contribute to better health care policy. HSC, based in Washington, D.C., is funded principally by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and is affiliated with Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
