title: A cash-equivalent option under "major-risk" national health insurance.
abstract: A central purpose of proposed "major-risk" ("catastrophic") national health insurance would be to provide an incentive to economize by requiring most households to pay, out of pocket, at least a fraction of the cost of all medical care they use. To help ensure the success of this cost-conscious strategy, the author asserts, a cash-equivalent option for workplace supplementary private health insurance should be legally required.
mesh_terms: D003669:Deductibles and Coinsurance / Q000191:economics; D007354:Insurance, Major Medical / Q000191:economics*; D009310:National Health Insurance, United States / Q000191:economics*; D014481:United States