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DOI: 10.1177/1077558706293634 © 2006 SAGE Publications
How Much Health Insurance Is Enough? Revisiting the Concept of UnderinsuranceUniversity of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
Mayo Clinic College of Medicine There is little consensus on what constitutes adequate health insurance coverage. The concept of a lack of adequate coverage, or underinsurance, is a matter of ongoing debate. A measure of adequate coverage is of critical importance as the nature of health insurance products evolves. Changes to health coverage include more direct out-of-pocket spending by consumers and a reduction of covered benefits. This article updates and extends an earlier review of underinsurance measurement published in 1993. We present a conceptual approach to measuring underinsurance and provide a review of the empirical findings obtained from the application of these approaches. A discussion of the limitations in the selection of a measurement approach includes a review of the extant data sources used. We recommend a national effort to develop a consistent approach to monitor changes in the economic and structural dimensions of health insurance coverage with a concerted effort to define and measure underinsurance.
Key Words: health insurance coverage • underinsurance • health surveys
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