PRODUCT DIVERSIFICATION IN HEALTH INSURANCE WITH COMPREHENSIVE COVERAGE BENEFITS U.S. HEALTH INSURERS

This paper studies the relationship between product diversification and financial performance in U.S. health insurers during 2005 – 2014. We focus on diversification among different types of comprehensive coverage – termed related diversification. We use a modified Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) as a proxy for product diversification and measure financial performance by both return on assets and return on capital. We find a robust positive relationship between product diversification and performance. Moreover, the positive relationship still holds when the performance measures are adjusted for volatility. These findings support the theoretical foundation of economies of scope and risk-reduction, as adapted to the U.S. health insurance industry. We also develop two empirical proxies for the underwriting and asset investment risk taking of health insurers. For health insurers, the relationship between performance and risk-taking in product and asset management is similar to other types of insurers. A noteworthy finding is that the positive relationship between product diversification and performance is stronger during the financial crisis years than in the recent healthcare reform era. This suggests that diversification as a risk reduction strategy may be less effective when reform changes the healthcare environment

Blue and Green Phosphorescent Liquid-Crystalline Iridium Complexes with High Hole Mobility

Blue- and green-emitting cyclometalated liquid-crystalline iridium complexes are realized by using a modular strategy based on strongly mesogenic groups attached to an acetylacetonate ancillary ligand. The cyclometalated ligand dictates the photophysical properties of the materials, which are identical to those of the parent complexes. High hole mobilities, up to 0.004 cm2 V-1 s-1, were achieved after thermal annealing, while amorphous materials show hole mobilities of only approximately 10-7-10-6 cm2 V-1 s-1, similar to simple iridium complexes. The design strategy allows the facile preparation of phosphorescent liquid-crystalline complexes with fine-tuned photophysical properties

Teaching Story without Struggle: Using Graded Readers and Their Audio Packs in the EFL Classroom

In recent years the support for extensive reading (ER) in English as a second or foreign language (ESL/EFL) programs has been compelling. When practicing extensive reading, the learner reads a wide variety of texts for pleasure and achieves a general understanding of the content while deciphering unknown words through context. This approach contrasts with intensive reading, a more traditional approach based on a slow, careful reading of a text, with goals of complete comprehension and the identification of specific details and information

What US Health Insurers\u27 Data Show for ACA Repealers

The healthcare reform brought about as a result of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010 marked the start of a new era for the US healthcare industry, with the main objective being to extend insurance coverage to the previously uninsured population and thus provide coverage for all Americans. In consideration of calls for possible repeal or revision of the ACA, we depict the large-scale structure of the US healthcare system before and after the ACA by visual models, and present dynamic trends in healthcare utilization based on health insurers’ own data. The exhibits of the healthcare system portray the health insurance industry as a key player with a dual role as both a financial intermediary and the manager of care before and after the ACA (albeit with many limitations and requirements since 2010). Given their key role, the annual financial statements of all health insurers are a rich source of comprehensive data for developing utilization trends for 5 covered subpopulations—employer-provided group insurance (not for self-insurance), individual coverage, Medicaid, Medicare, and federal group coverage—for 3 utilization factors: encounters with providers, admissions to hospitals, and duration of hospitalization. The data reveal that some of the trends began before ACA enactment, likely as consequences of other factors, such as the 2008 financial crisis, which left major unemployment in its wake. One resulting prominent trend is the continuous reduction in employer-provided group health insurance despite a reversal in unemployment; provisions of the ACA are considered to play a part in this reduction. Since 2008, we have also seen a dramatic increase in member numbers in, and utilization of, the Medicaid program. These trends help fill out a picture of the developing status of healthcare plans’ membership and utilization, which will inform any discussion of changes in, or repeal of, the ACA

Fluorine-free blue-green emitters for light-emitting electrochemical cells

Date of Acceptance: 29/05/2014There is presently a lack of efficient and stable blue emitters for light-emitting electrochemical cells (LEECs), which limits the development of white light emitting systems for lighting. Cyclometalated iridium complexes as blue emitters tend to show low photoluminescence efficiency due to significant ligand-centred character of the radiative transition. The most common strategy to blue-shift the emission is to use fluorine substituents on the cyclometalating ligand, such as 2,4-difluorophenylpyridine, dFppy, which has been shown to decrease the stability of the emitter in operating devices. Herein we report a series of four new charged cyclometalated iridium complexes using methoxy- and methyl-substituted 2,3′-bipyridine as the main ligands. The combination of donor groups and the use of a cyclometalated pyridine has been recently reported for neutral complexes and found electronically equivalent to dFppy. We describe the photophysical and electrochemical properties of the complexes in solution and use DFT and TDDFT calculations to gain insights into their properties. The complexes exhibit bluish-green emission with onsets around 450 nm, which correspond to the maximum emission at 77 K. Furthermore, photoluminescence quantum yields in solution are all above 40%, with the brightest in the series at 66%. Finally, LEECs were prepared using these complexes as the emissive material to evaluate the performance of this particular design. Compared to previously reported devices with fluorine-containing emitters, the emitted colours are slightly red-shifted due to methyl substituents on the coordinating pyridine of the main ligand and overall device performances, unfortunately including the stability of devices, are similar to those previously reported. Interestingly within the series of complexes there appears to be a positive effect of the methoxy-substituents on the stability of the devices. The poor stability is therefore attributed to the combination of cyclometalated pyridine and methoxy groups.PostprintPeer reviewe

The Interplay between Insurers’ Financial and Asset Risks during the Crisis of 2007–2009

In this study we compare the interplay between capital and asset risks before and during the 2007–2009 financial crisis for the U.S. life and health insurance industries partitioned into segments by product specialisation, size and governance. The results show substantial intra-industry variation in the partial elasticity of capital with respect to asset risk, as well as significant impact of the crisis. Segment variation was driven by product focus. Most notable is the greater impact of the crisis on the U.S. insurers specialising in annuities (least risky product) than on specialists in health lines (riskiest product). During the crisis, the elasticity between asset risk and capital declined for all segments indicating that insurers’ operation may have shifted from offsetting risk to seeking risk.