New Findings from Chapman University Describe Advances in Life Science Research (An Investigation of Health Insurance Policy and Behavior In a Virtual Environment)

2021 MAY 24 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Investigators publish new report on Life Science Research. According to news reporting from Orange, California, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “We introduce a new experimental approach to measuring the effects of health insurance policy alternatives on behavior and health outcomes over the life course. In a virtual environment with multi-period lives, subjects earn virtual income and allocate spending, to maximize utility, which is converted into cash payment.”

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from Chapman University, “We compare behavior across age, income and insurance plans-one priced according to an individual’s expected cost and the other uniformly priced through employer-implemented cost sharing. We find that 1) subjects in the employer-implemented plan purchased insurance at higher rates; 2) the employer-based plan reduced differences due to income and age; 3) subjects in the actuarial plan engaged in more health-promoting behaviors, but still below optimal levels, and did save at the level required, so did realize the full benefits of the plan. Subjects had more difficulty optimizing choices in the Actuarial treatment, because it required more long term planning and evaluating benefits that compounded over time.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Contrary, to model predictions, the actuarial priced insurance plan did not increase utility relative to the employer-based plan.”

For more information on this research see: An Investigation of Health Insurance Policy and Behavior In a Virtual Environment. PLOS ONE, 2021;16(4). PLOS ONE can be contacted at: Public Library Science, 1160 Battery Street, Ste 100, San Francisco, CA 94111, USA. (Public Library of Science - www.plos.org; PLOS ONE - www.plosone.org)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting J. Dustin Tracy, Chapman University, Economics Science Institute, Orange, CA 92866, United States. Additional authors for this research include Kevin A. James, Hillard Kaplan and Stephen Rassenti.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0248784. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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