…this installment of the Freakonomics Radio Book Club, the economist Amy Finkelstein explains why insurance markets are broken and how to fix them. Also: why can’t you buy divorce insurance?…
The economist Amy Finkelstein explains why insurance markets are broken and how to fix them. Also: why can’t you buy divorce insurance?…
Why is it separate from medical insurance? And is it really insurance at all? Zachary Crockett goes in for a cleaning….
It’s a surprisingly hard question to answer. Bapu talks with a health economist about a natural experiment that led to some unexpected findings….
…reading of most policies for “business interruption” reveals that viral outbreaks aren’t covered. Some legislators are demanding that insurance firms pay up anyway. Is it time to rethink insurance entirely?…
…“captive reinsurance” rather than “shadow insurance.” As MetLife puts it: “Captive reinsurance is a cost-effective way of addressing overly conservative reserving requirements.” As of this writing, at least on my…
…argument: he discussed only the profits of the insurance companies, rather than their total contribution to healthcare spending. Indeed, insurance companies create costs within themselves and throughout the system. As…
…ignore his “low-cost ‘indemnity’ type of health insurance policy.” The patient’s estimated costs had he used his health insurance plan: approximately $20,000 (out of the estimated hospital charge of $23,000)….
…percent. There’s already evidence of premiums going up in some hard-hit states. From the Insurance Journal: More than 400 Oklahoma schools have received notices of expected insurance rate increases averaging…
…an organ and your own death wouldn’t seem to be the most appealing incentive. 2. Funeral insurance? What the heck is funeral insurance? Surely such folly doesn’t exist in the…
Celebrity endorsements are all well and good … until the celebrity starts misbehaving. That’s where the insurance companies come in. Insurance brokers report a growing interest in “disgrace insurance,” which…
What happens when a firm starts a “dependent verification” program designed to make sure that its employees are carrying only legitimate dependents on their health insurance? The economists Michael Geruso…
…won’t be seeing similar insurance pitches in the U.S., though maybe London could use them. Markl wonders why another type of insurance isn’t offered in the U.S. by now: the…
A new N.B.E.R. working paper finds a link between health insurance and obesity, and suggests that the better insured you are, the fatter you’re likely to be. We already knew…
Levitt and Dubner answer your FREAK-quently Asked Questions about junk food, insurance, and how to make an economist happy.
…for trip insurance, or pre-checking a life-insurance policy in case the plane crashes? What does the trip insurance actually give you that you don’t already have? The Access America policy…
Kidney failure is such a catastrophic (and expensive) disease that Medicare covers treatment for anyone, regardless of age. Since Medicare reimbursement rates are fairly low, the dialysis industry had to…
Medicine has evolved from a calling into an industry, adept at dispensing procedures and pills (and gigantic bills), but less good at actual health. Most reformers call for big, bold…
…own, rather than doing it through a life insurance policy. The bottom line is that you end up paying a lot for that investment component in an insurance policy. I’d…
An all-star team of behavioral scientists discovers that humans are stubborn (and lazy, and sometimes dumber than dogs). We also hear about binge drinking, humblebragging, and regrets. Recorded live in…
Jessica’s past posts can be found here, her own blog here, and her new book here….
| It’s been a year since the American Journal of Psychiatry tried to have the internet committed — O.K., well, since it published an editorial arguing for the classification of…
…poor, covered another 9 percent. About 2 percent were covered under other programs. Among organ donors, however, insurance coverage was much less extensive. Private insurance was the most common source…
It isn’t easy to separate the guilty from the innocent, but a clever bit of game theory can help.
Some of the biggest names in behavioral science stand accused of faking their results. Last year, an astonishing 10,000 research papers were retracted. We talk to whistleblowers, reformers, and a…
Economist Daron Acemoglu likes to tackle big questions. He tells Steve how colonialism still affects us today, who benefits from new technology, and why democracy wasn’t always a sure thing….
…pollution, carbon emissions, congestion, accidents — and how one new strategy may be able to help: pay-as-you-drive (P.A.Y.D.) auto insurance. The strange truth is that most auto insurance in the…
…insurance company. It is an auto club. Mere characterization should not be sufficient to avoid the application of common sense requirements for the provision of insurance. But speeders beware before…
…If they have homeowner’s or renter’s insurance, they are about to call their insurance agent (as well as the police). It might have occurred the couple that it was a…
