3 ms·

> I did my dissertation research using insurance claims data Is your research published publicly anywhere?

• parsimo2010 6y ago
  It is currently embargoed and the raw data will never be released because of HIPAA. I didn't focus on the costs, so even when my dissertation is published next year the costs won't be discussed. It's just one of those things that I couldn't help but write a quick query because the information was present. There were a few extreme cases where a person had over 10,000 claim lines in a single year at a cost of millions of dollars. And insurance actually paid, because I only saw adjudicated claims. But a more typical person has a dozen or so claims costing maybe a thousand dollars in a year. There are also people that go years without a single medical encounter, but as soon as they need treatment for something it tends to be an expensive year. The issue I see is that most people probably don't have good enough savings habits to be able to afford basic healthcare if they don't have their premiums on autopay or pulled out of their paycheck before they have a chance to spend it. So although most people could save $1k in a year, insurance is like a savings account that you have to make deposits to and can bail you out if you really need more.