Date and Time
February 27, 2008
1:30 PM - 3:00 PM

Availability
Open to the public
No RSVP required

Speaker
M. Kate Bundorf - Stanford University

While choice among competing insurance plans is a cornerstone of the recently enacted Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit, the role of choice in this context has been controversial. While proponents argue that competition creates incentives for plans to reduce costs and offer better products, others question both the willingness and desire of Medicare beneficiaries to make choices in this context. This seminar will examine the benefits and costs of choice in Medicare Part D, focusing on the decision making costs of choice and the benefits of product differentiation. I will present the results of a recent Internet-based experiment in which we asked people 65 and over to make hypothetical choices among Medicare Part D prescription drug plans, varying both the number of plans and the extent of differentiation among plans in the choice set.