State Health Care Reform: The Benefits and Limits of "Reinsurance"


 

Publication Date: July 2007

Publisher: Heritage Foundation (Washington, D.C.)

Author(s): Edmund F. Haislmaier

Research Area: Health

Keywords: Health care; pool; risk pooling; high-risk

Type: Brief

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

When most people refer to "reinsurance" in health care, what they really mean is the related concept of risk transfer or risk-pooling arrangements. Although such mechanisms do not lower overall health care costs, they can help people in poor health obtain coverage and, in conjunction with other reforms, can create a smoother-functioning health insurance market.