Louisiana successfully used a sort of subscription model to ensure access to antiviral drugs against hepatitis C for people on Medicaid and in prison, the Rebitzers wrote. Patients’ incentives to restrain health care spending are limited to whatever they spend on deductibles and co-pays. Health care is one of the only parts of the economy where “slightly worse but much cheaper” is not even on the mental map, the Rebitzers wrote. The adversarial approach to health insurance, in which insurers spend huge sums scrutinizing claims, is enormously wasteful, the Rebitzers wrote. Another idea: “Trusted third parties could manage and attest to the validity of payments, as with credit card payments.”The Rebitzers acknowledge that in health care, especially, economic incentives don’t always work.

---

Persons: laud, don’t, Robert Shiller, ” Organizations: American Board, Internal, ABIM, Yale Locations: Louisiana, Europe, United States