Taxing cadillac health plans may produce Chevy results.
It's often assumed that high-cost health insurance plans--sometimes called "Cadillac" plans--provide rich benefits to plan subscribers. Health reform provisions that treat these plans like luxuries may be misguided. Only 3.7 percent of variation in the cost of family coverage can be explained by benefit design (actuarial value). Benefit design plus plan type (HMO, PPO, POS, or high-deductible plans) explains 6.1 percent of this variation. Industry type and medical costs in the region also play a role. Most variation in premiums, however, remains largely unexplained.
Gabel
Jon
J
National Opinion Research Center, Bethesda, Maryland, USA. Gabel-Jon@NORC.org
Pickreign
Jeremy
J
McDevitt
Roland
R
Briggs
Thomas
T
D016536:Competitive Medical Plans / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000191:economics*; D013660:Taxes / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D014481:United States