Plan Competition for Health System Efficiency
By Alan Garber, Dana Goldman, and Darius Lakdawalla
Summary: According to the authors, a plan competition approach requires new infrastructure, but designed in a way that will promote choice, efficiency and high quality care. This paper proposes a health care reform plan that includes: Qualified Insurance Exchanges available to every American, tax-free health investment accounts and an independent federal authority to oversee plan competition, data collection and information dissemination. This paper finds that the flexibility of this approach offers the best opportunity to promote innovation in plan design and health care delivery. Adverse selection problems can be addressed through both observable and un-observable risk-sharing regulations.
Key Concepts: health care administrative structure, high-deductible health plans