Summary of the article The RAND Health Insurance Experiment, Three Case Study

Summary of the article The RAND Health Insurance Experiment, Three Decades Later - Case Study Example Consequently, examining potential threats to validity using the results would increase uncertainty. In addition to these threats, there is no systematic reexamination of the original data, and core findings from the RAND experiment. Incompleteness of the publicly available health data also prohibits the replication of the original RAND results. Differential participation could also lead to bias in the experiment, as there was higher participation among those covered by more comprehensive plans than those in lower comprehensive plans. Consequently, results cannot be reported with confidence. The authors attempt to answer the question by presenting the main findings of the experiment in a manner similar to the way they would be presented today. This makes the findings accessible to current readers. They also reexamine the validity of the experimental treatment effects, and address the potential of differential study participation and differential reporting outcomes across experimental treatments. In addition, they consider the RANDS estimates, and contrast between how the elasticity was originally estimated and its subsequent application. They finally caution against summarizing the experimental treatment effects from nonlinear health insurance contracts using single price elasticity. The results of the experiment indicated that an insurance plan that offers a lower coinsurance rate leads to more health utilization, compared to a plan that requires an individual to pay more to access the services. The 95% plan, for example, records a lower level of health spending, while the free care plan records more health spending. Therefore, individuals who spend more on health seek less treatment, than those who spend less on medical insurance. Patients seeking medical attention, and then returning to their homes also posed a higher percentage compared to those spending their nights in