Health Insurance

Health insurance is the machinery that makes the financing of the US health system run. But what’s going on under the hood? Health Insurance helps readers learn the underlying assumptions, facts, and variables that drive decision-making and choices on the payer side. Picking up where introductory economics courses often leave off, the book presents the foundational economic principles of health insurance to clarify insurance-related policy and management issues. Author Michael A. Morrisey clearly explains complex concepts such as adverse selection, moral hazard, managed care, and employer-sponsored health insurance. Also addressed are risk adjustment, demand, health savings accounts, selective contracting, the diversity of health insurance markets, and the functioning of Medicare and Medicaid. The book is distinguished by its in-depth discussion of research in health insurance, both cutting edge and classic. This third edition has been substantially revised to reflect the rapid evolution of the healthcare field stemming from the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Throughout, the most recent available data is used. Though health insurance has been a major player in the American healthcare system for decades, it’s hardly static. This new edition of Health Insurance keeps pace with the changes, while also offering a thorough foundation on the basics.

Michael A. Morrisey, PhD, is an emeritus professor at both Texas A&M University and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). At Texas A&M, he served as head of the Department of Health Policy and Management and was an adjunct professor in the Bush School of Government and Public Service. At UAB, he was a professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management with secondary appointments in the Departments of Economics, Health Services Administration, and Sociology. He also directed the UAB Lister Hill Center for Health Policy. Prior to moving to academia, he served as senior economist at the American Hospital Association. Dr. Morrisey has served as an officer of the American Society of Health Economists and for the International Health Economics Association. He was the first recipient of the John Thompson Prize in health services research awarded by the Association of University Programs in Health Administration. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota, and a PhD in economics from the University of Washington in Seattle. He and his wife, Elaine, reside in Birmingham, Alabama, and their children and grandchildren live in Alabama and California.