Economics
of Healthcare

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Consider the four health plans
below with an eye to choosing one to offer to the company’s employees. Assume
that the health plans and their annual per employee premiums are as follows:

Health Plan	Premium, Individual	Premium, Family
Aetna Health	$4,555	$11,428
MetroPlus	$4,267	$10,540
Empire	$4,217	$10,767
Oxford	$6,029	$13,417

The employer will pay 80% of the
premium for individual coverage, and the employee will pay the remaining 20% as
well as the entire additional premium for family coverage. (The premiums listed
above, while realistic in magnitude, are hypothetical and computed solely for
the purpose of this project.) All of the plans are managed care plans. Assume
that the benefit package is the same across all plans, so there is no
difference between them in what services are covered.

In addition to the above data,
clickhere (http://www.health.ny.gov/health_care/managed_care/qarrfull/qarr_2013/) to
view and investigate the Online Report on Quality Performance Results in New
York State, the latest report card issued by the New York State Department of
Health, 2013, and incorporate the information into your evaluation.

You can view the various
categories of measures on which health plans are rated (e.g., Access to Care,
Adult Living with Illness, etc.). Click each link for a summary chart that
presents the performance (usually as a percentage score) of each plan in the
group on the relevant measures and how each plan compares to regional and
statewide scores.

Submit a 2-page analysis in a
Microsoft Word document that outlines the plan you selected and why. Generally,
you would select the plan with the highest score, but if you chose a plan with
a lower score, explain why. Include the following elements in your analysis:

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Explain which factors (e.g.,
price and/or performance measures) were most important to your choice of plan
and how you derived the weights for each factor you used.

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Indicate, on a scale of 1 to 10,
how comfortable or confident you are that you made the right choice, with 10
being most confident.

Part II

You need to use the multiattribute
utility (MAU) technique to respond to the following questions. Although the
technique can be performed with pencil and paper, it is recommended you use a
Microsoft Excel to do the various calculations involved.

Click the following links to
access the information on using the MAU technique:

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MAU Model (http://vizedhtmlcontent.next.ecollege.com/pub/content/4f665a32-d66b-4e62-bfdc-a7bb56e16fb9/SU_HCM3002_W4_A2_MAU_model.pdf)

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MAU Example (see
attachment)

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Compare your level of confidence
at the time you completed Part I to your confidence level for Part II, when you
used this decision aid.

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Was it helpful? What were its
advantages and disadvantages?

Did it make the decision harder
to make or easier to justify?

Support your responses with
examples.

Cite any sources in APA format.