Publications

20 Oct 2009
News

On healthcare reform, carrots work better than sticks

June 30, 2020
Article

Bipartisan Tax-Free Solution to Health Care Financing: Coupling HRAs With a Public Option

By: Regina E. Herzlinger, Richard Boxer and James Wallace

A combination of health insurance initiatives by the presumptive 2020 Democratic and Republican presidential nominees could expand health care coverage and significantly reduce costs, without raising taxes. Along the way, the combination could revitalize private... View Details

Keywords: Health Care Financing; Public Option; Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA); Health Care and Treatment; Insurance; Cost Management

Read Now

26 Oct 2010
News

Heads I Win, Tails I Win Too

Article

Motivated Inferences of Price and Quality in Healthcare Decisions

By: Emily Prinsloo, Kate Barasz and Peter A. Ubel

Policy makers have increasingly advocated for healthcare price transparency, whereby prices are made salient before services are rendered. While such policies may empower consumers, they also bring price to the forefront of healthcare choices as never before, with yet... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare; Price Transparency; Health Care and Treatment; Price; Quality; Perception; Consumer Behavior; Decisions; Insurance

Find at Harvard

Register to Read

17 Feb 2014
Research & Ideas

Companies Detangle from Legacy Pensions

insurance companies. In the HBS case study Prudential Financial-General Motors Pension Risk Transfer: Back to the Future?, Viceira, with Emily A. Chien, wrote about the historic de-risking of GM's pension plan for salaried employees, a... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Aerospace; Financial Services

December 1999
Case

American International Group, Inc.

By: Kenneth A. Froot and Heidi Cruz

American International Group, Inc. (AIG), one of the world's largest and most innovative insurers and financial intermediaries, is considering new strategies in an era of new competition and Internet distribution. View Details

Keywords: Insurance; Competitive Strategy; Internet and the Web; Distribution; Innovation and Invention

Find at Harvard

December 12, 2023
Article

Prices for Common Services at Quaternary vs Nonquaternary Hospitals

By: Brandon W. Yan, Maximilian J. Pany and Leemore S. Dafny

Using commercial health insurance claims data from 2017-2019, we assessed whether quaternary hospitals charged higher prices for common, unspecialized services also offered by nonquaternary hospitals. We found quaternary-hospital price premiums of 8.2 percent, on... View Details

Keywords: Price; Health Care and Treatment; Insurance; Markets; Health Industry

Find at Harvard

07 Mar 2017
News

Hospitals could bear the financial brunt of the American Health Care Act

May 1997 (Revised May 1998)
Case

Progressive Corporation

By: Michael E. Porter and Nicolaj Siggelkow

Progressive is a leader in providing nonstandard (high-risk) automobile insurance to drivers across America, with a long record of extraordinary profitability. Progressive is facing a challenge in its segment from Allstate, the industry leader, and must decide how to... View Details

Keywords: Insurance; Business or Company Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Planning; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Insurance Industry; Insurance Industry; United States

February 2018
Case

Aetna and the Transformation of Health Care

By: Rebecca M. Henderson, Russell Eisenstat and Matthew Preble

Mark Bertolini, chairman and CEO of the health insurer Aetna, faces a number of questions as he seeks to transform Aetna from a classic insurance company into a business that will engage much more deeply with its members around their personal health goals. His strategy... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Insurance; Transformation; Behavior; Leading Change; Strategy; Insurance Industry; Insurance Industry; United States; Connecticut

27 Jul 2011
News

A New Individual Market on the Horizon

15 May 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Barriers to Household Risk Management: Evidence from India

Keywords: by Shawn Cole, Xavier Giné, Jeremy Tobacman, Petia Topalova, Robert Townsend & James Vickery

27 Feb 2017
News

Achieving Universal Coverage Without Turning to a Single Payer

24 Mar 2022
Research & Ideas

Why Cutting Jobless Aid Isn't the Answer to Worker Shortages

materialized a month or two later if those governors had opted to keep distributing the federal benefits, Kluender says. Unemployment insurance flowing into accounts dropped by $281.50 per week by early September. Yet earnings for those... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

January 1991 (Revised March 1996)
Case

Profiling at National Mutual (A)

This case series describes a company grappling with organizational change through information technology. National Mutual Life Association vies for Australian insurance industry leadership with its long-time competitor. It has purchased an expert system called Client... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Information Technology; Insurance Industry; Australia

January 2021
Case

Saham Group: It's In the Genes

By: Christina R. Wing and Gamze Yucaoglu

The case opens in August 2020 as Moulay Mhamed Elalamy (Mhamed), CEO of the Saham Group (the Group), a pan-African investment company that operates a variety of businesses out of Morocco, contemplates the Group’s identity, its investment strategy, and how to navigate... View Details

Keywords: Family and Family Relationships; Family Business; For-Profit Firms; Transformation; Transition; Emerging Markets; Change Management; Private Equity; Investment; Strategy; Insurance Industry; Insurance Industry; Insurance Industry; Insurance Industry; Morocco; Africa

February 2010 (Revised February 2021)
Case

The Vitality Group: Paying for Self-Care

By: Regina E. Herzlinger

Vitality is part of a $2 billion start-up South African and U.K. health insurance firm. It has achieved excellent results in rewarding people for promoting their health. It is now contemplating how to enter the U.S. market. View Details

Keywords: Market Entry and Exit; Insurance Industry; South Africa; United Kingdom; United States