title: Informing public policy toward binational health insurance: empirical evidence from California.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To estimate reimbursement rate differences between Mexico and US based physicians reimbursed by a binational health insurance (BHI) plan and US payers, respectively; and show the relationship between plan benefit designs and health care utilization in Mexico.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data include 33,841 and 53,909 HMO enrollees in California from Sistemas Médicos Nacionales (SIMNSA) and Salud con Health Net, respectively. We use descriptive statistical methods.
  
  
  RESULTS
  SIMNSA's physician reimbursement rates averaged 50.7% (95% CI: 34.5%-67.0%) of Medi-Cal's, 28.3% (95% CI: 19.6%-37.0%) of Medicare's, and 22% of US private plans'. Each year, 99.4% of SIMNSA enrollees but only 0.1% of Salud con Health Net enrollees obtained care in Mexico.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  SIMNSA only covers emergency and urgent care in the US, while Salud con Health Net covers comprehensive care with higher patient cost sharing than in Mexico. To realize potential savings, plans need strong incentives to increase utilization in Mexico.
authors.affiliation: The Nicholas C. Petris Center on Health Care Markets and Consumer Welfare, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA, 94720, fultonb@berkeley.edu.
authors.forename: Brent D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Fulton
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Services, Policy & Practice, Brown University, Rhode Island, USA.
authors.forename: Omar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Galárraga
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, USA.
authors.forename: William H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Dow
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002140:California; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007349:Insurance, Health, Reimbursement; D008800:Mexico / Q000208:ethnology; D008875:Middle Aged; D011640:Public Policy; D055815:Young Adult