Health insurance design: choices, consumer behavior and policy challenges . Rising health costs is a global challenge. Creating an efficient health insurance system is a key policy concern in all developed countries. This project aims to study choices, consumer behaviors, and policy challenges in two health insurance markets: Australian private health insurance (PHI) and US Medicare prescription drug insurance.
Expected outcomes include new evidence needed to develop a new framework for PHI, ne ....Health insurance design: choices, consumer behavior and policy challenges . Rising health costs is a global challenge. Creating an efficient health insurance system is a key policy concern in all developed countries. This project aims to study choices, consumer behaviors, and policy challenges in two health insurance markets: Australian private health insurance (PHI) and US Medicare prescription drug insurance.
Expected outcomes include new evidence needed to develop a new framework for PHI, new knowledge on how consumers respond to complex pricing structures, and new policy proposals to improve the overall efficiency of the health system. The research will benefit the re-design of PHI and the health system to improve Australians’ health while saving health costs.
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Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE240100616
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$411,500.00
Summary
Sustained innovations to promote healthier food in the retail environment. This project aims to provide empirical evidence to drive sustained retailer change in favour of healthier food offerings. Australian food environments drive unhealthy diets and are a major cause of social, productivity and wellbeing loss. Using implementation science methods applied to rigorous real-world trials and policy collaborations, the project will test the effectiveness of innovative methods for sustaining organis ....Sustained innovations to promote healthier food in the retail environment. This project aims to provide empirical evidence to drive sustained retailer change in favour of healthier food offerings. Australian food environments drive unhealthy diets and are a major cause of social, productivity and wellbeing loss. Using implementation science methods applied to rigorous real-world trials and policy collaborations, the project will test the effectiveness of innovative methods for sustaining organisational change across a range of retail settings. Outcomes would deliver significant benefits by enabling retailers, governments, and public health advocates nationally and internationally to make the lasting changes to retail environments needed to improve productivity and population wellbeing.Read moreRead less
Food and beverage price promotions: An untapped policy target . We aim to generate evidence on the influence of price promotions on foods and beverages considered to be of concern for human and planetary health. We further aim to identify if, and how, policies can be designed to reduce these types of price promotions and understand the feasibility and acceptability of doing so, from a range of perspectives.The significance of this project is substantial - unhealthy diets are the leading cause of ....Food and beverage price promotions: An untapped policy target . We aim to generate evidence on the influence of price promotions on foods and beverages considered to be of concern for human and planetary health. We further aim to identify if, and how, policies can be designed to reduce these types of price promotions and understand the feasibility and acceptability of doing so, from a range of perspectives.The significance of this project is substantial - unhealthy diets are the leading cause of disease and death and unhealthy foods account for >30% of the food-related environmental footprint. By understanding if, and how, this novel policy target can be designed to improve population food choices, this project will ultimately deliver benefits for human and planetary through improved dietary choices.Read moreRead less
Child Dental Benefit Policies and the Health of Australian Children. This project aims to examine the early effects of two recent initiatives by the Australian government to improve children’s dental health by providing funds to cover essential dental services for children from disadvantaged families. It explores the factors affecting eligible children’s access to benefits from these initiatives and identifies the causal impacts of these changed health care financing arrangements on children’s c ....Child Dental Benefit Policies and the Health of Australian Children. This project aims to examine the early effects of two recent initiatives by the Australian government to improve children’s dental health by providing funds to cover essential dental services for children from disadvantaged families. It explores the factors affecting eligible children’s access to benefits from these initiatives and identifies the causal impacts of these changed health care financing arrangements on children’s consumption of dental services, indicators of oral health and general health, and other indicators of cognitive and non-cognitive development. Using advanced econometric techniques and panel datasets, this project is expected to contribute to the development of effective policies for promoting health and wellbeing.Read moreRead less
Nanny state or good public policy: Do the benefits of mandatory health programs justify the loss of consumer choice? Governments are increasingly turning to mandatory programs to improve health. Such programs are appealing because there are high health benefits from universal participation and low costs for promotion and monitoring the program. However, this apparent benefit relies on restriction of personal choice, which may impose welfare losses on consumers. Evaluations generally ignore loss ....Nanny state or good public policy: Do the benefits of mandatory health programs justify the loss of consumer choice? Governments are increasingly turning to mandatory programs to improve health. Such programs are appealing because there are high health benefits from universal participation and low costs for promotion and monitoring the program. However, this apparent benefit relies on restriction of personal choice, which may impose welfare losses on consumers. Evaluations generally ignore loss of choice, despite evidence suggesting consumers value the ability to choose. This study will estimate the impact and value this loss of consumer choice, explore program specific factors and consumer characteristics influencing the valuation, and determine whether and how restricted choice should be explicitly considered when evaluating public health programs.Read moreRead less
Assessing the national productivity impacts of chronic ill health. The project aims to address one of the biggest gaps in health and productivity research by designing a novel composite national metric that will rank lost productivity due to chronic illness The project brings together tax/transfer modelling, health modelling and epidemiological modelling specialists to develop a highly innovative microsimulation model: Health&WorkMOD to then quantify the costs of health-related productivity loss ....Assessing the national productivity impacts of chronic ill health. The project aims to address one of the biggest gaps in health and productivity research by designing a novel composite national metric that will rank lost productivity due to chronic illness The project brings together tax/transfer modelling, health modelling and epidemiological modelling specialists to develop a highly innovative microsimulation model: Health&WorkMOD to then quantify the costs of health-related productivity loss. The proposed model, an international first, will be a powerful tool to comprehensively model the cost impacts of illness and simulate policy options related to health and productivity. This will provide answers to critical policy questions for government with potential significant economic benefits.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE170100726
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$381,000.00
Summary
Socioeconomic effects of fault attribution after a motor vehicle crash. This project aims to identify claimant and crash risk characteristics that predict elevated socio-economic burden on injured persons, compensation systems and the public health system. 19% of Australians injured in road trauma annually report long-term reductions in social participation and work capacity, and have costly health service needs. Attributions of fault lead to perceived injustice and affect the capacity to cope w ....Socioeconomic effects of fault attribution after a motor vehicle crash. This project aims to identify claimant and crash risk characteristics that predict elevated socio-economic burden on injured persons, compensation systems and the public health system. 19% of Australians injured in road trauma annually report long-term reductions in social participation and work capacity, and have costly health service needs. Attributions of fault lead to perceived injustice and affect the capacity to cope with trauma. This project will evaluate the effect of fault attributions on socioeconomic outcomes. Expected results include approaches for identifying those at greatest risk of poor outcomes who need additional support after a crash.Read moreRead less
Coverage with Evidence Development: Application to pharmaceutical reimbursement decisions. Some new medicines produce only a small improvement in health but have considerable costs. When these medicines are trialled on only small numbers of people, uncertainty results about the value of the medicine, which can create problems for decision makers. Funding medicines where there is uncertainty may lead to harm when medicines are later found to be unsafe, or waste millions of dollars when they are ....Coverage with Evidence Development: Application to pharmaceutical reimbursement decisions. Some new medicines produce only a small improvement in health but have considerable costs. When these medicines are trialled on only small numbers of people, uncertainty results about the value of the medicine, which can create problems for decision makers. Funding medicines where there is uncertainty may lead to harm when medicines are later found to be unsafe, or waste millions of dollars when they are overpriced relative to effectiveness. Not funding medicines may disadvantage patients in whom the medicines are effective. Methods to enable access to medicines while reducing uncertainty will offer significant benefit to patients, clinicians and taxpayers. Read moreRead less
Networks in Flux: Examining how sector relationships adapt to rapid change. This study aims to investigate why, when and how inter-organisational networks adapt or remain resistant to change. Responding to complex social problems and technological change requires inter-organisational networks to be adaptable. Through a combination of longitudinal network analysis, survey research and qualitative interviews, this project plans to study the Victorian HIV and hepatitis C sector as it responds to ma ....Networks in Flux: Examining how sector relationships adapt to rapid change. This study aims to investigate why, when and how inter-organisational networks adapt or remain resistant to change. Responding to complex social problems and technological change requires inter-organisational networks to be adaptable. Through a combination of longitudinal network analysis, survey research and qualitative interviews, this project plans to study the Victorian HIV and hepatitis C sector as it responds to major advances in prevention and treatment, requiring community, health, policy and research organisations to adapt their roles and relationships. This timely and novel study aims to improve our knowledge of how to enable inter-organisational networks to adapt and improve organisational responsiveness to complex issues.Read moreRead less
The Intended and Unintended Impact of Policy for Adaptive Policy Management. The project aims to advance knowledge about the intended and unintended consequences of policy on health and well-being. It expects to innovate through new methods and novel data to integrate policy evaluation into the policy cycle in a timely fashion to prevent harm from occurring. It also leverages technology to track policy effects in real time. Expected outcomes of this project include new knowledge and enhanced pol ....The Intended and Unintended Impact of Policy for Adaptive Policy Management. The project aims to advance knowledge about the intended and unintended consequences of policy on health and well-being. It expects to innovate through new methods and novel data to integrate policy evaluation into the policy cycle in a timely fashion to prevent harm from occurring. It also leverages technology to track policy effects in real time. Expected outcomes of this project include new knowledge and enhanced policy infrastructure using new methods and interdisciplinary approaches. Significant benefits include improvements to: (1) policy management by government departments; (2) the health and wellbeing of the Australians they serve; (3) our Partners' capacity to consult governments on how technology can assist policy management. Read moreRead less